Winter - 2008

Sustainable

Maplewood

Maplewood Seasons The Greening of Maplewood

WINTER 2008/2009

Go Green Team!

collected from Maplewood residences.

In Fall 2008 the City of Maplewood launched To assess recycling in city buildings, the its Green Team! Nineteen environmentally Green Team conducted a waste sort and committed staff and council liaison Hjelle recycling assessment of city hall in October. volunteered to be on the Green Team. This The purpose was to determine what types group will look at city operations from an and quantities of materials are found in the environmental perspective and develop trash and analyze the city’s existing recycling programs for reducing waste, energy use, infrastructure. and emissions. The city is “By ensuring the city recycles to our full spotlighting the Maplewood potential we reduce trash service, save The waste sort Green Team to serve as a money, increase revenue shares, and help included the model for local businesses the environment.” collection of 2.5 and residents in these yards of trash (15 large trash bags) over a efforts. four-day period. The Green Team spent a The Green Team’s first environmental fun-filled morning sorting the trash into sevinitiative is to improve recycling in city eral recyclable and waste categories. buildings so we called upon our waste After sorting we found only 34% was waste reduction partner, Eureka Recycling, to help (5 bags), 26% was recyclable materials us develop our plan. Increasing recycling not (paper, bottles, cans), and 40% was only reduces waste, it also generates compostables (food and paper towels). For revenue for the materials collected through the recycling assessment, the Green Team our contract. Last year the city received walked through city hall and viewed the $87,303.97 in revenue for recycled material number, placement, and products found in

Increase recycling to trash bin ratio.

the recycling and trash bins.

The results of the waste sort and recycling assessment show that the city can improve its recycling to its full potential by collecting 26% more recyclable material such as paper, bottles, and cans at city buildings, rather than allowing it to end up in the trash.

Because the city does not have the infrastructure to collect the 40% compostables at this time, the city should concentrate on reducing compost waste.

Based on these results the Green Team will implement several recycling initiatives in city buildings over the next few months (see below). By ensuring the city recycles to our full potential we reduce trash service, save money, increase revenue shares, and help the environment. Now that is what I call a win/win for the environment and the tax payers!

Shann Finwall, Environmental Planner shann.finwall@ci.maplewood.mn.us 651-249-2304

Green Team Recycling Initiatives Install consistent labeling, coloring, and sizes of recycling bins.

Promote recycling through education.

Ensure proper sorting of recyclable materials.

Resident Spotlight: Reducing Waste

The average person in the Twin Cities throws away 7 pounds of garbage a day! According to Ramsey County approximately1/3 of that garbage could have been recycled.

One Maplewood household is saving on their garbage bill by breaking this cycle. Every Monday as the neighbors of Mark and Carole Gernes on McKnight Road wheel out their large bins of garbage, they notice a small bag of garbage and a bin full of recyclables neatly placed on the curb in front of the Gernes’ house. The neighbors often ask “how do you do that?”

Carole explains that recycling has become a lot easier, you don’t have to crush cans, remove bottle tops or rings, or even rinse out the cans or bottles if you don’t want! But first you have to reduce waste on the front end by avoiding products with non-recyclable packaging. As an example, the Gernes rarely purchase meat, fruits or vegetables that are prepackaged with plastic and foam. Also, simply drinking water from the tap rather than from a plastic bottle will reduce waste. Recycling plastic is less efficient than recycling other products.

Dress Up Your Driveway!

Dress up your driveway with a festive red recycling bin. After hours recycling bin distribution was held in early October. If you missed this opportunity, get your bin by stopping at the Maplewood Public Work’s building, 1902 County Road B East, between 8:00AM and 4:30PM. Help the environment and get in the holiday spirit while doing it.

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sort wer recy coll Bill Priefer, recycling coordinator, and Christopher Goodwin, Eureka Recycling representative distributing a bin to Maplewood resident, Mark Anderson of Mapleview Avenue.

Carole wonders why people send valuable resources to the landfill or incinerator, when they could easily be recycled or donated. She points out that most paper products can be recycled (newspaper, junk mail, cardboard, paperboard from cereal and tissue boxes, and milk and juice boxes). The Gernes recycle about two grocery bags of paper products a week, and they donate non-recyclable products so that someone else can use them.

To deal with food and yard debris the Gernes have two compost bins. They dispose two gallons of food waste into the bins every week, with most of their yard clippings going straight into the gardens. In the spring they empty one of the bins into the gardens as valuable nutrients, with the other bin allowed to continue its compost cycle for another year. Compost bins are available for sale at Eureka Recycling (651-222-7678) or consider making your own bin (for specifications visit www.reduce.org/compost). Your family can save money and help the environment by following the Gernes’ family lead in reducing waste!

Gernes family’s weekly trash and recycling

Greening Up The Holidays

Shann Finwall, Environmental Planner

• For gifts, consider presents you don’t have to wrap like an adventure or experience – tickets to sports games or concerts, museum or health club memberships, ski lessons or cooking class.

Between extra energy consumption and extra trash generation, the holidays can be hard on the environment. The Minnesota • Pollution Control Agency indicates that between Thanksgiving and New Years Day, Minnesotans generate 25% more waste.

Nationally American’s generate an additional 1 million tons of garbage per week • during this time (www.reduce.org/holiday).

There are dozens of ways to reduce environmental impacts over the holidays.

Here are just a few easy-to-adopt tips from our naturalists at the Maplewood Nature Center:

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If you do buy a gift that requires wrapping, use old magazines, fabric, Sunday comics or kid’s artwork to wrap it in. Most regular wrapping paper cannot be recycled.

Start a re-use box for used wrapping paper and ribbons. In some families, favorite gift wraps are used over and over on smaller and smaller packages.

• Save holiday cards to remake into new cards or gift tags next year.

• Take care of yourself and your family during the holiday. Get outdoors for fresh air. If you haven’t been to the Maplewood Nature Center, stop by for a snowshoe hike.

For additional links and dozens of tips for having a green holiday visit www.reduce. org/holiday or the Maplewood Nature Center website (www.ci.maplewood.mn.us).

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• If you’re buying new Christmas lights, buy LED lights (light-emitting diode). These can reduce energy costs by 80%-90% over incandescent lights.

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Bill Schreiner, Environmental Commissioner

A common argument is that there would be at Eureka Recycling Two-Stream Facility

better participation if residents didn’t have to sort their recycling. The study discovered the significant factors that increased participation were container capacity and frequency of collection, not less sorting. Also, single-stream recycling can have residual rates as high as 27% with almost 1/3rd of the materials collected for recycling thrown out as trash because of contamination.

In contrast, Eureka Recycling’s two-stream facility has a residual rate of less than 2%.

Maplewood residents are even better than the average. In 2007 the residual rate for material collected from the Maplewood two-stream program was 0.41%, which means that less than ½ percent of the recyclable material collected in Maplewood went in the trash compared to 27% in a typical single-stream program. Now that we’ve got that sorted out, keep up the good work Maplewood.

Bill Priefer, Recycling Coordinator

Thanks Citizen Monitors!

Citizen monitors have become crucial in Maplewood’s efforts to protect our natural resources. The Maplewood Nature Center coordinates three citizen monitoring programs: bluebirds, frogs and toads, and neighborhood preserves.

Bluebird Nest Box

Why can’t I put all of my recycling in one container? Maplewood’s recycling partner, Eureka Recycling, conducted a study and looked at the collection of all recyclables in one container (single-stream) versus the separation of cans and bottles from paper (two-stream).

The study concluded that two-stream collection created more recycled material in the end, since less is thrown in the trash after processing.

Maplewood’s bluebird trail has 25 nest boxes and is part of the Minnesota Recovery Program. Their job is to ensure successful nesting, hatching and fledging of bluebirds.

This year 21 young bluebirds were successfully fledged!

Sand, Salt, and Beet Juice?!

With the first snowfall comes a flurry of calls to the city about snow plowing. Curious about the environmental impacts of winter road care, I sat down with Bryan Nagel, Maplewood Street Superintendent, to find out how our public works staff decides what to use on snowy roads. “We have to consider public safety, cost, environmental impacts, and the type of snow event,” Nagel explained.

For most snow events, Maplewood uses a mix of sand and salt. During ice storms or at certain intersections, straight salt may be applied. Salt works by lowering the freezing point of water and sand works by providing traction for tires.

As snow melts and spring rains come, salt and sand from the road are carried into storm sewers and ultimately into our lakes and streams. Salt is soluble in water and there are no practical methods for removing it. Increasing the salt content changes the water chemistry of a lake or stream, which may negatively affect aquatic plants and animals. Sand, on the other hand, consists of large particles that can be trapped or removed through street sweeping, in storm sewer silt traps, or by excavating the sand delta that may form where a storm pipe enters a waterbody. Thus, sand is generally considered less harmful to the environment.

Last winter, Maplewood added a new substance to its sand-salt mix – BEET JUICE! GeoMelt, a natural byproduct of sugar beet processing, was added to the sand-salt mixture to prevent the mixture from freezing and help it stay on the road when applied.

By using a mix of sand-salt-BEET JUICE, rather than straight salt, Maplewood maintains streets in a safe driving condition and reduces environmental impacts. For more information on Maplewood’s snow policy, visit www.ci.maplewood.mn.us and click on street division.

Ginny Gaynor, Open Space Coordinator Maplewood Seasons 3

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Let’s Just Sort This Out

Maplewood has three frog and toad routes.

Monitors visit sites and identify frogs and toads by their calls using methods set up by the DNR. This year frogs and toads were present on 29 of the 30 sites. Over time, we hope to correlate frog and toad population to changes in land use near waterways and how buffer zones and rain gardens can benefit those populations.

Our third group of monitors helps protect Maplewood’s preserves. They hike one of Maplewood’s 14 preserves and report on nature and usage.

Thank you to all our hard-working volunteers!

Citizen monitoring is a great way to get outdoors, volunteer in the community, and can be a fun family activity. For more information on becoming a citizen monitor, call the Maplewood Nature Center at 651-249-2170.

Kid’s Section Named!

Maplewood Seasons proudly announces that Ella Lefebvre, age 4, submitted the winning Kid’s Section name called “TREE HOUSE.” Thanks Ella for your creativity!

You are the winner of a FREE BIRTHDAY PARTY at the Maplewood Nature Center.

Tree House is provided to help GET KIDS EXCITED ABOUT NATURE. Each Maplewood Seasons issue will feature a new nature theme activity in Tree House to keep you in the know.

Winner Ella Lefebvre

Come Play Outside!

Getting kids outside in nature improves their health, as well as the health of the environment. This may seem like common sense to many, but unfortunately many young Americans are growing up indoors with TV, video games, and computers, rarely playing outside.

Outdoor play and learning reduces the symptoms of attention deficit disorder and stress in children. According to Richard Louvre in his book Last Child in the Woods, in the last five years the rate at which American children were prescribed anti-depressant drugs has almost doubled, with the steepest increase (66%) among preschool-age children. Several studies show links between being exposed to nature and improved attitudes and cooperation.

It all starts at home. Start by spending time outside in your yard with your infant or toddler, walk around the neighborhood, or visit one of Maplewood’s 40 parks and nature areas. Don’t let the cold weather stop you. The U.S. Department of Health encourages children to get outside and play for at least 20 minutes per day – this can be done safely if properly dressed in weather as cold as -200F! For fun while walking, play the nature alphabet game: name a letter and have your child identify an object in nature that begins with that letter.

Another great way to enjoy the outdoors is with a visit to the Maplewood Nature Center.

This winter the nature center will be offering programs to get kids outside.…

• Full Moon Walk: Friday, December 12, 7:00 to 8:30PM

• Wildlife Holiday: Saturday, December 20, 10:00 to 11:30AM

• New Years Party: Wednesday, December 31, 6:00 to 8:00PM For more information on nature center programs or how and where to get outside visit the Maplewood Nature Center website at www.ci.maplewood.mn.us or visit the Nature Conservancy website at www.nature.org.

Ann Hutchinson, Lead Naturalist

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To sponsor this newsletter contact Heidi Carey, Marketing Coordinator at 651-249-2021 or heidi.carey@ci.maplewood.mn.us.

Key: 1 - D, 2 - C, 3 - E, 4 -B, 5 - A Maplewood Seasons 4

Printed on 30% post-consumer waste paper

Draw a line from the animal to its track. Winter months are the best time for animal tracking. Next time you see a track in the snow, try to identify it!