Interior Alaska Green Star Annual Report 2008
PO Box 82391 Fairbanks, Alaska 99708 (907) 452-4152 www.iagreenstar.org Executive Director Darcie Warden Darcie@iagreenstar.org
Mission Statement Interior Alaska Green Star is the Fairbanks chapter of Green Star速, a non-profit organization which encourages households and businesses to practice waste reduction, energy conservation and pollution prevention.
Message from the Executive Director It is amazing how quickly one year goes by. It was just March of 2008 when I began working as Executive Director with Interior Alaska Green Star (IAGS),and I hit the ground running because the first ewaste recycling event was only weeks away. Luckily for me, the past director, Eva Rothman, kept excellent records and had successfully planned and executed two electronics recycling events; with her help I was able to smoothly transition into my new role. But don’t worry, we haven’t lost Eva - she now serves on the IAGS board providing guidance and support. Eva sits with a great group of people on the IAGS board. These are volunteers who are fiscally responsible for the organization and who take that responsibility very seriously. Each board member brings their own unique skills and experience to the table. I would like to acknowledge the hard work, expertise, community contacts, passion, and commitment that they bring to this organization. Further, our mission is supported by all the hard work from our volunteers and by the generous contributions from our donors. All of this support provides IAGS the necessary resources to host bi-annual electronics recycling events over the past three years. Just in 2008, over 25 tons of electronics were diverted from the FSNB landfill. Businesses, non-profit organizations, and individual households invested in the electronic recycling program by participating in our collection events. The mind-boggling aspect about this work is that we will only be recycling more and more electronics as time goes by. Our modes of communication become more sophisticated so quickly, that the electronic devices we have in our possession become obsolete within a year or two. This is an alarming trend that is not slowing down - so IAGS not only recommends that consumers recycle their electronics, but that they also purchase electronic items from companies that take responsibility for their products (from production to end of life). Purchase products from companies that use fewer toxic materials and who utilize construction methods that make it easier to break the products down at the end of life stage. IAGS is well known in the community for the electronics recycling program - but we will soon be providing even more services in the coming year. The board and I have been developing a 3-year work plan and have spent many hours strategizing how to achieve our goals over the next few years. We are excited to reinstitute the Green Star Award Program in 2009, provide education and outreach to schools and community groups, and support all efforts working towards sustainable living practices. I look forward to the upcoming year and all that we can accomplish together in the Interior of Alaska.
Accomplishments Electronics Recycling: IAGS held two electronics recycling events in 2008. April 2008 ElectronicsRecycling Event In the spirit of Earth Day, IAGS held an electronics collection event on April 26th in the parking lot of the Carlson Center, and also hosted an information booth at Glowing Planet Concept Tree’s Earth Expo 2008 that was held inside the Carlson Center. IAGS collected electronics all day on the 26th from businesses and households and also collected items during the evening of the 29th while the Golden Valley Electric Association’s Annual Meeting was hosted at the Carlson Center. By the end of the two-day collection event, the electronics recycling team had collected and shipped 11.9 tons of obsolete electronics from the Fairbanks community to Total Reclaim Inc. in Anchorage and then on to their Seattle recycling facility. Thanks to these efforts, we successfully diverted an estimated 1094 pounds of lead from the FNSB landfill.
April 2008 - Items Collected 250
203
Numbers of Items Collected
200
150 128 100 100
89
59 50 26
28
74
67
60 44
36
38
33 11 1
4
25 3
1
0
2
2
4
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October 2008 Electronics Recycling Event The second electronics recycling event of 2008 was held on October 4th and 6th in the Westmark Hotelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back parking lot. We thank Westmarkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s generosity for providing our volunteers an indoor work space; because of course it is cold enough to snow in October! IAGS with the help of dedicated volunteers including a 5th grade class from the Tri-Valley School District collected approximately 13 tons of electronic waste. Over 200 households, businesses, non-profit organizations, and government agencies participated in our Fall electronics recycling collection event; some came from as far away as Denali. Again, we collected computer monitors, printers, and televisions - plus numerous cell phones, VCRs and miles of cables and wires associated with electronic devices. These obsolete electronic devices were shipped to the recycling center, Total Reclaim Inc., in Anchorage where 90% of the items will be recycled or reused.
Oct 08 Electronics Recycling 120
99 85
80
72
70 60 60
58 49
44
41
40 29
27
25
21
20 11
8 1
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6
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3
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Type of items collected
Electronics Recycling Partners IAGS has selected Total Reclaim Inc. as the electronics recycling company based on their high recovery rate of e-waste materials and their responsible handling of toxic materials. They have taken the “Pledge of True Stewardship with the Basal Action Network (BAN)”, which holds strict standards and practices for recycling and exportation of materials. This is important because used electronics contain lead, cadmium, barium, chromium, and mercury – materials which are toxic to the environment, as well as to the people who work in the e-waste dismantling industry. Strict standards identified by BAN prevent these materials from being burned or water soaked, in order to prevent toxic persistent organic pollution (POPs) from entering our water systems or air. The Fairbanks North Star Borough Solid Waste Division has been a constant partner in our recycling events over the last 3 years. We have depended on their contributions of their skilled forklift operators to load material on to semi-trucks. The continued commitment from the FNSB Solid Waste Division ensures the safety and on-going success for IAGS’s electronics recycling collection events. Two partners who helped with the critically important pieces of publicity and volunteer recruitment were the Northern Alaska Environmental Center and the Associated Students of University Alaska Fairbanks Recycling Club. Both of these partners share IAGS’s goal to inform the public and student populations about recycling opportunity in Fairbanks. The Carlson Center and Westmark Hotel provided the venues for the two events in 2008. It is important to provide safe, easy access to businesses and households for electronics recycling drop-off. Thanks to these two partners we had a great location for 44’ long trailers, safe access for on-going traffic throughout the day, and plenty of space for volunteers to work. The October event was the springboard to prepare the community for the television digital changeover, so we wanted to advertise the event on TV. However, advertising is the biggest expense item in the budget, especially through television media. But thanks to Tanana Valley Television’s generous donation of commercial production and airtime, IAGS was able to advertise the October e-waste collection a week before the event on three stations. Based on our survey, many people were informed about the event through these television broadcasts.
Total Electronic Waste Collected in 2008
2008 Electronics Recycling Totals
N um b er o f Item s C o llected
300 273 250
227
226
200 146
150 100 50
119 125 70
65 39
110
109 60 36 9
66 48
5
9
10
0
5
2
11
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Product Collected
Major e-waste contributors at the collection events have been the Tri-Valley School District in Healy, BLM Fire Service, Princess Hotel, Denali National Park, the City of Fairbanks, Alaska Communications Systems (ACS), Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and HSS Warehouse. These businesses, along with the many individuals in the community, contributed to successful events which have diverted over 50 tons of electronic waste from the FNSB landfill over the past three years.
Public Outreach and Education IAGS enters the class room: Interior Alaska Green Star provides educational presentations about electronics recycling to school classes, organizations, and community groups upon request. In 2008, IAGS presented to 15 high school classes, junior high classes and organizational groups. Thank you to West Valley High School, Ryan Middle School, and UAF for inviting us into your rooms to share information about the local e-waste collection efforts and why it is so important to dispose of old electronic items responsibly.
Special Events IAGS joined the Midnight Sun Festival downtown with an informational table. We provided handouts about local recycling efforts, electronics recycling, plastics and IAGS membership information. This was a great opportunity to reach out to the community about our services and recruit volunteers. Our major partnership over the summer was with the Tanana Valley State Fair. During the nine days of the fair, IAGS had an informational booth in the Borealis Pavilion and also organized the recycling efforts for plastic and aluminum. Thanks to the leadership of the Tanana Valley State Fair, Wal-Mart, K&K recycling, and all the volunteers who put time in with IAGS, we accomplished our goals of information distribution, volunteer recruitment and recycling of plastic and aluminum for the duration of the fair. IAGS also had a great time at the Golden Days Parade held in downtown Fairbanks. Eva Rothman, creative board member - along with her amazing children - constructed a T-Rex out of plastic bags to illustrate the number of plastic grocery bags a family uses in one year. This visual aid caught the attention of adults and children alike, giving us the opportunity to promote local recycling efforts in the community and distribute Fred Meyer reusable shopping bags to those who wanted them. Thank you Fred Meyer for your donation to our outreach efforts!
Green Events Tanana Valley State Fair (TVSF) partnered with IAGS, Wal-Mart, K&K Recycling, and ALPAR to gather plastic and aluminum beverage containers for recycling. Even though the weather was cold and wet almost every day of the fair, we gathered approximately 210 pounds of aluminum representing ~ 6703 cans, and 200 pounds of plastic representing ~ 4081 bottles. The collection and separation of plastic and aluminum was as successful as it was thanks to the 50 volunteers who put in an amazing 460 hours of volunteer time. Over the nine day period, nearly 75,000 people attended the fair, which is a drop in the usual attendance due to the inclement weather. With that fact in mind, IAGS and the TVSF expect to see more people and more recycling in the summer of 2009!
Community Involvement IAGS was involved with the FNSB Recycling Task Force meetings over the past year. The three IAGS board members - Pam Seiser, Andrea Miller and Kristen Thomas - attended 12 months of meetings. Their contributions lead to strengthening the final recommendations that were eventually delivered to the Borough Mayor.
Interior Alaska Green Star Infrastructure Improvements IAGS held three strategic planning sessions to plan for the future, strengthen organizational systems, continue outreach, and further develop the Green Star Awards program. We have already accomplished our goal to increase organizational capacity by electronically linking board members on a shared website with document sharing, instant messaging capability, and on-line storage for pictures and documents. IAGS is also using a new on-line data base to track volunteer hours, members, and donor contributions. This very important tool will further strengthen our abilities to reach out to the community.
Board of Directors
Pam Seiser, Board Chair Alaska Biological Research, Inc.
Bill Smyth Department of Environmental Conservation
Carol Ann Varner Army Corps of Engineers
Eva Rothman Fairbanks Resource Agency
Kristen Thomas Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Andrea Miller Fairbanks Memorial Hospital
Staff
Ty Keltner Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Darcie Warden Executive Director
2008 Volunteers Thank you to all of the dedicated volunteers: Gina Baker Sharon Baker Melissa Baltazar Roberto Baltazar Alex Batista Ruby Baxter Caleb Beaty Alexander Bergman Billie, Sharon, and Susie Steven Bonfoey Michael Bradshaw John Bunten Leticia Carroll Alysha Childs Aly Cruey Matt Delcastillo Tom DeLong La’ona DeWilde Tom Dillon Mary Dokken Christian Dornkven Kathy Duryee Art Eveland Suzy Fenner Eric Ferree Deb Fitzgerald Devon Fitzpatrick Davya Flaharty Tyson Flaharty Ana Fochesatto
Paul Foucheaux Zack Gaskins Matt Goodwin Martin Harrington Dorothy Heim Justin Heinz Bob and Joann Henszey Arline Hogenson Ethan Howe Nancy Hummel Ambrose Mazion Steve McElreath Andrea Miller Pat Moodie Alice Mural Kerry Nelson Mary Ann Nickles Debbie Nigro Crystal Nolin Misty Nolin Ashley Norum Sally O’Connell Jordon O’Dell Ricky Pelton Tadge Piure Eva Rothman Aurora Rotz Marilyn Russell Tyler Saunders Tamara Scott
Michele Scouten Pam Seiser Barbara Sevier Marielle Smith Bill Smyth David Spindler Sara Spindler Kayli Stanfill Al Storuick Ashleigh Strange Joel's Place Karen and Kristi Billie Kassel Ty Keltner Kelvin Steve Kendell Suni Lambert Will Lentz Jessica Lundy Julie Maier Bob Sugden Renee Sugden Kristen Thomas Tri-Valley School 5th Grade Ursula Carol Ann Varner Stuart Varner Catherine Whitney Briana Wilburn
2008 Sponsors Gold Star Golden Valley Electric Association Wal-Mart Usibelli Tanana Valley Television Best Buy Rasmuson Foundation Total Reclaim Inc. Silver Star ABR ALPAR Alyeska Fairbanks Memorial Hospital Flint Hills FNSB Solid Waste Division Westmark Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Inc. Supporters Fred Meyer Safeway
Interior Alaska Green Star 2008 Financial Statements Balance Sheet Cash, Savings, and investments
2007
2008
8,140.00
8,944.00
0
0
8,140.00
8,944.00
33.00
114.00
8,107.00
8,830.00
Land and buildings Total assets Total Liabilities Net assets or fund balances Statement of Activities Revenues
Contributions, gifts, and similar amounts received
23,685.00
Program service revenue
19,067.00
Membership dues and assessments
0
Investment income
34.00
Total Revenue
42,786.00
Expenses Salaries, other compensation and employee benefits
13,306.00
Professional fees and other payments to independent contractors
2,465.00
Occupancy, rent, utilities, and maintenance
0
Printing, publications, postage and shipping
437.00
Conferences/meetings
38.00
Web hosting/Internet fees
532.00
Promotion and public awareness
3,941.00
Recycling expenses
20,619.00
Bank service charge
75.00
Dues and subscriptions
275.00
Insurance
204.00
Supplies
171.00
Total Expenses
42,063.00
Assets Excess or (deficit) for the year
723.00
Net assets or fund balances at beginning of year
8,107.00
Net assets or fund balances at end of year
8,830.00