Green Star offers benefits to its members beyond just energy savings and waste reduction. Many local businesses offer product and service discounts to Green Star members.

Visit our Member Benefits page to learn more.

SHINING STARS

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Green Star logo

Welcome to our newest Green Star enrollees.

We look forward to working with these organizations to achieve Green Star Award certification.

All Alaska Tours

EVENTS & REMINDERS

Find events on Green Star's web calendar.

Green Star Membership
Renewal Reminder

Don't forget to send in your 2014 annual membership renewal dues. A notice was sent to a representative at your organization via email in December.

Green Posole at Midnight Sun Brewing Company -- January 9
Enjoy a hot bowl of posole on Thursday, January 9, at Midnight Sun and they will donate $5/bowl to Green Star. Thanks Midnight Sun!! Each week, the chefs start with either spicy green (poblano, serrano) or red (guajillo, ancho, chipotle) chilies to create a special Mexican/New Mexican stew called posole. A rich chili broth with tender slow-braised pork and hominy is topped with peppery red radish, crunchy shredded cabbage, creamy avocado, and earthy cilantro. Enjoy it with a cool craft beer!

Christmas Tree Recycling -- through January 15

Bring your live tree, minus ornaments, tree stands, or bags, to the designated area at any CARRS parking lot in Anchorage, Eagle River, or Palmer, for free recycling. NO wreaths please! Trees are recycled into wood chips and distributed to local non-profits and agencies for trail cover, erosion control, and landscaping mulch. Anchorage Boy Scout Troop 268 will pick up your tree in Anchorage and Eagle River (Saturday only in Eagle River) for a small fee. Call 868-8899 or email recyclechristmastrees@gci.net.

This free recycling program is brought to you by
Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling (ALPAR),

Municipality of Anchorage Solid Waste Services,

CARRS/Safeway, Anchorage Daily News, Anchorage Media Group, MIX 103.1, KBEAR 104.1, and GCI.

Alaska Forum on the Environment -- February 3-7
Save the date! The 16th Annual Alaska Forum on the Environment will be at the Dena'ina Convention Center on February 3-7, 2014! Online registration services and all the information about the event are available at www.akforum.com. Early-bird registration specials are still available through January.

SAVE THE DATE!!
Beer & Swine Festival -- April 5
This festival will include a fun run, organized by Skinny Raven Sports, and two local-beer-tasting sessions at Snow Goose, accompanied by tasty snacks prepared by local restaurants. Stay tuned for more details and registration information.

Anchorage to Zero Waste Guide --
Fall/Winter 2013-2014

Produced by the Municipality of Anchorage's Solid Waste Services, the A to Z Guide is your definitive source for recycling and zero waste information in Anchorage. The latest issue includes information about donation, business waste management, wind and landfill gas power, air quality, and updated recycling options. Find the Fall/Winter A to Z Guide and other archived issues at Solid Waste Services' Recycling page.

Alaska Materials Exchange

AME is a free resource for Alaskan businesses and organizations to find or post unwanted materials for reuse.

Post your items today!

HOW TO MAKE POLLUTION-PREVENTION SYSTEMS WORK FOR YOUR COMPANY

By Cam Metcalf

Executive Director,
Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center

Published December 10, 2013

www.greenbiz.com

The evolution of successful P2 plans and programs has been a process of finding new ways for organizations to move from creating P2 awareness to promoting action plans through a systems approach process. Systems approaches already are used for creating processes relating to economics, energy, environment, innovation and quality. The EPA's current Lean, Energy, Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) and Green Chemistry programs are examples of using a systems model to create innovative and effective approaches to reduce pollutants and encourage P2.

The driving force for a P2 systems approach originally focused on hazardous wastes from small and large quantity generators (SQGs/LQGs). Waste minimization (WM) was defined as the reduction, to the extent feasible, in the amount of hazardous waste generated before any treatment, storage or disposal of that waste. The certification requirement for shipping hazardous waste specified that companies must have a program in place to reduce the volume and toxicity of waste generated to the degree the organization had determined to be economically practicable.

In 1989, EPA provided guidance on the six program elements that organizations seeking to prepare waste minimization programs as required by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) should consider. The elements were providing top management support, characterizing waste generation and management costs, performing periodic waste minimization assessments, maintaining a cost allocation system to determine the true cost of waste management, encouraging technology transfer, and implementing the program and conducting evaluations to determine effectiveness. Initially, this hazardous waste focus appeared to impede the application of a systems approach to improving performance in other environmental media.

MOVING TOWARD A PAPERLESS OFFICE

Is going paperless worth it for your business? In a word, yes. The benefits are numerous so we'll just focus on a few here. Let's start with the economic benefits to your company.

The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper per year, and the cost of using that paper goes beyond just its purchase. In fact, the costs run from 13 to 31 times the cost of purchasing it initially. These added costs include storage, copying, printing, postage, disposal and/or recycling.

All of these added costs can make a $5 ream of paper cost as much as $155 in the end. Even without going completely paperless, various paper-waste-prevention techniques can significantly reduce these costs. For example, Bank of America saved more than $1 million over the course of a year by encouraging double-sided printing in offices and for customer bank statement, and centralizing distribution of company procedure manuals.

Going paperless also increases office efficiency. Businesses that have converted to electronics forms and filing systems have found that it takes less time to both find and process information.

Going paperless can be done in steps, so consider starting today by reducing your paper use to see what you can save.

Thank you to Victoria Hill, UAA student, for researching this issue for Green Star.

For this and lots more good information, visit www.nrdc.org/enterprise/greeningadvisor and www.reduce.org.

OR JUST RECYCLE IT!

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) recently announced its annual recycling awards, which recognize outstanding paper recycling programs.

The annual awards program, established in 2006, has been redesigned this year to offer increased opportunities for recognition of even more outstanding paper recycling efforts. Applicants in three categories - school, business and community - now have four chances to win in each category. Programs/entries will be judged on:

Volume - total amount of paper and paperboard collected.

Creativity - unique and innovative ways that have been used to market the program, raise awareness and generate interest.

Participation - unique and innovative ways successful programs increased participation and tonnage collected.

Partnerships - innovative partnerships (community, business, non-profit organizations) used to promote increased recovery.

Four winners in each category receive a cash prize, an original piece of framed artwork, and bragging rights and visibility in local and national media for their recycling efforts.

Questions? AF&PA will host a webinar on January 15, 2014, at 2 p.m. EST to explain the changes to the awards program and the application process.

To register for the webinar or to learn how to submit your entry for the 2014 AF&PA Recycling Awards, visit www.paperrecycles.org/recycling-awards. Application deadline is March 7, 2014.

Access past issues of E-News, sorted by topic or date. Please send comments, questions, or suggestions for future E-News topics to us at jeanne@greenstarinc.org. Forward this newsletter freely. Send us any email addresses you wish us to add to our mailing list. Thank you!