Kim Utecht Prayfrock
Seasons The Greening of Maplewood
Getting Down to Business
By Michael Martin, Economic Development Coordinator Businesses that adopt more sustainable practices and produce more sustainable products and services report cost savings, improved risk management, new and more loyal customers, and motivated employees. This best practice calls on cities, working with local business associations, to shift some of their existing assistance efforts to support businesses in meeting the market need for a greener economy. Maplewood’s new Business Engagement Program will assist businesses in meeting those goals. The program will involve outreach to businesses primed for growth to ensure that growth stays in Maplewood. Over the course of a year, members of the City Council, City staff, and the St. Paul Area and White Bear Area Chambers of Commerce will be meeting with local businesses to see what is working and what can be improved. Keeping businesses in Maplewood and ensuring businesses grow, is an important step to becoming a more sustainable City. Cities typically assist businesses within their borders to become more financially stable in order to become a positive community asset.
Small locally-owned businesses in particular keep dollars recirculating in the community. Small business owners have a personal stake in the social and economic well-being of their community, and the same entrepreneurial and problem-solving skills required to run a small business can readily be applied to community issues. As part of the Business Engagement Program, the City is seeking nominations for its second annual Maplewood Business Awards. The awards were created to inspire, recognize, and reward business achievements in terms of growth, environmental awareness, and contributions to the community. The Entrepreneurship Innovation Growth Award recognizes businesses and entrepreneurs that have established and achieved aggressive goals that result in the creation of new businesses, and improvements to existing businesses. This year’s winner was The Linn Companies, who has demonstrated these ideals in development and redevelopment projects in Maplewood. The Environmental Sustainability Award recognizes Maplewood businesses that have improved their energy conservation and waste disposal policies, practices, or operational procedures, and have successfully yielded cost savings and improvements to their bottom line. Reducing costs will free up
Fall 2016 resources that can then be used to grow the business. Garden Fresh Farms was honored with this award for their indoor farming business (see page 2). The Community Contribution Award recognizes Maplewood businesses that have increased their level of engagement, support, and contributions to the community. This award is to honor Maplewood businesses that have improved their ability to attract, engage, and retain employees who value social responsibility. Social responsibility is linked to improved organizational performance. This year’s winner was Second Harvest Heartland which provides important services to Maplewood and the Twin Cities. The Maplewood Business Awards will be presented during the annual State of Maplewood Community Luncheon scheduled for January 2017. Visit www.maplewoodmn. gov/awards for more information about the awards and how to nominate businesses. On October 12, the City will hold its second annual community engagement breakfast. This breakfast is an opportunity for business owners, residents, and City officials to get together to discuss trends and issues affecting Maplewood and its growth. For more information on this breakfast, and other upcoming city engagement events, visit www.maplewoodmn.gov/outreach.
2016 Maplewood Business Awards
Entrepreneurship Innovation Growth Award
Environmental Sustainability Award
Community Contribution Award
Sustainable Agriculture - Garden Fresh Farms By Shann Finwall, Environmental Planner
Garden Fresh Farms sells its complete line of herbs and micro greens to Lunds and Kowalski stores. The fish is sold at local markets.
For the past five years Garden Fresh Farms has offered produce through its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The Dave Roeser, owner of Garden Fresh Farms, holding produce can be picked up leafy greens grown from indoor orbiting gardens. once a week year round or delivered to work places Maplewood’s 2016 Environmental with 25 members or more. Dave Roeser, Sustainability Award recipient, Garden owner of Garden Fresh Farms, states Fresh Farms, offers sustainably grown “our CSA program functions like a food local agriculture. The indoor farm hub, where we use our indoor produce produces lettuce and herbs, and grows but also buy from other local farmers to tilapia. Through their re-circulating aquaponics system the plants clean the give our CSA variety.” water, the water sustains the fish and Besides growing food indoors, Garden produce, and the fish fertilize the plants. Fresh Farms has permaculture on the hill in front of their warehouse where Garden Fresh Farms is changing the they grow cherries, raspberries, mint, food supply chain with their innovative and some vegetables. These are added farming system. Because the farming to the CSA bags during the summer and is all indoors, the plants have few some are harvested and processed into predators or bugs, so no pesticides are jams and pie fillings for winter months. needed. The crops are hand harvested “Our CSA is the only year-round CSA which means there are no running that offers healthy food and interesting tractors or other large farm equiprecipes during all four seasons,” Roeser ment. Selling locally cuts down on fuel asserts. Visit the Garden Fresh Farms for transportation. And because it is a CSA website for more information: closed-loop system, there is no waste. www.gardenfreshfarms.org
Business Recycling
As of January 1, 2016, Minnesota law requires that most businesses provide recycling at their facility. If a business contracts to remove four or more cubic yards of waste, the business is required to recycle at least three types of materials. The following organizations offer grants and programs to help local businesses meet the new recycling requirements. • The Ramsey County Business Recycling Grant will fund up to $10,000 to start or improve a recycling or organics collection program. No matching funds are required. The grant can be used to purchase equipment and supplies, including recycling and organics collection bins and educational materials. www.ramseycounty.us/businesses/recyclingwaste/recycling/grants 651-266-1199 • Minnesota Waste Wise, a nonprofit affiliate of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, offers free waste audits. Audits include a site visit and technical expertise in creating or improving a waste diversion program. www.mnwastewise.org 651-266-1199 • Small businesses and organization can opt into Maplewood’s recycling program for as low as $3.26 a month.Through the program businesses are supplied recycling carts and recycling is collected by the City’s contracted recycling hauler once a week. www.maplewoodmn.gov/businessrecycling 651-249-2305
Waste Diversion Success Story – Kindercare By Chris Swanson, Environmental Specialist Kindercare, a daycare center located at 1925 County Road D in Maplewood, is a waste diversion success story. A year ago Kindercare did not have recycling at their facility. After a site assessment by Minnesota Waste Kindercare’s recycling program helps Wise they found that there was reduce their trash bill significantly. opportunity for waste diversion. They helped Kindercare begin a recycling program that included working with the facility’s existing trash hauler to include recycling collection, making room for a second container in the trash Seasons 2
enclosure for recycling, offering feedback on indoor trash and recycling bin placement, and adding educational signage in the building. With the recycling program in place Kindercare has reduced their trash service by half and diverted an estimated 28,912 pounds of recyclable material from the trash. Since business trash is taxed at 70%, diverting the recycling from the trash has reduced Kindercare’s trash bill significantly. Van Mulher, assistant director, states that “the recycling program has reduced our trash, but it has also introduced our children to what it means to be good stewards of the earth.”
Decrease Energy Use - Increase Your Bottom Line
Maplewood businesses can receive a FREE energy consultation through Energy Smart. Energy Smart is offered by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and funded by state-approved utility conservation programs. Energy Smart will identify cost-effective ways to lower your business’ energy use and connect you with valuable financial incentives, such as utility rebates, grants, and low-interest financing. To get started, visit the Energy Smart website at www.mnenergysmart.com or call 651-292-4652.
Implementing Green Business Practices - 5-8 Tavern & Grill By Shann Finwall, Environmental Planner The 5-8 Tavern & Grill has a history of implementing green business practices. The Maplewood 5-8 opened its doors in 2002 after an old corner bar was remodeled and expanded 5-8 Tavern & Grill recently had a free energy for the new consultation by Energy Smart restaurant. Jill Skogheim, co-owner of the restaurant, states that “we wanted to reduce the environmental impacts of our restaurant so we added an infiltration basin with native plantings in front of the parking lot that infiltrates and cleanses all of the water runoff from the property.”
In 2013, 5-8 worked with their neighbor across Minnehaha Avenue, 3M, to evaluate 3M™ LED advanced light bulbs in the restaurant. The 3M LED test project had two objectives, to determine whether the bulbs could improve the aesthetics of the interior of the restaurant and reduce electricity demand. Skogheim reports that immediately after the LED lights were installed she heard positive comments about the lights from customers and staff. The dimmer functionality allows them to have intense light during cleaning, and softer light when customers are present. Energy use was tracked prior to and after the project. The 5-8 saved $14 per day in electricity with the new lights, that’s an annual savings of $728! Most recently, 5-8 scheduled a free energy consultation with Energy Smart (see below). Energy Smart reports that better ventilation control is an often over-looked energy savings opportunity for restaurants with long operating hours. New ventilation systems prices are coming down and the energy savings can pay for the project over two to five years. Skogheim is enthused to continue to reduce the restaurant’s environmental impacts by implementing energy saving opportunities outlined in the consultation.
Making a Green Investment - Maplewood Toyota
By Emma Struss, Xcel Energy Partners In Energy Facilitator In 2014, “The first thing we noticed when the LED lighting was put in was Maplewood that the parking lot just popped. You would drive down Highway Toyota made a 61 and think ‘Who is the new kid in town?’ It made our facility look significant green fantastic.” But aesthetics and convenience weren’t the only thing investment — Maplewood Toyota noticed. The dealership also experienced the upgrading projected 30% decrease in energy use and lighting costs. exterior The savings can be contributed to the efficiency and programmability lighting from of the LED bulb. The dealership has their lights on all night for metal halide Installing LED parking lot lights has saved security reasons. Now they can keep the lights on, but program to LED bulbs. Maplewood Toyota approximately 30% in energy use the lights to reduce energy output after the dealership is closed. and lighting costs. Due to high maintenance Johnson says, “A person’s first impression is that it’s really costs of switchexpensive to make the conversion because LED lights at a retail ing out light bulbs, the dealership was spending $200 a bulb to price are more expensive than a typical light bulb, however you light their facility. Switching to LEDs meant maintenance costs are have to view it as the value over time.” Two years later, Maplewood limited to every ten years and the lighting quality is more consistent. Toyota is experiencing the “value over time” and the bottom-line Bob Johnson, Facility Manager with Maplewood Toyota said,
benefits from this green switch.
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Black Gold! Soil, that is, Minnesota’s free… and very valuable resource! By Oakley Biesanz, Naturalist Gardeners like me call compost “black gold,” as it is a treasured ingredient for creating a luscious vegetable or flower garden. The great thing about compost is that it is created from items that are usually thrown in the trash can! Composting can be done by nature, by a resident, or by a business or organization; and the waste reduction really adds up.
Nature knows how to deal with organic waste by creating compost, and we can all emulate this. Imagine if a forest ecosystem didn’t decompose its leaves and logs, they would be stacked up miles high. Living ecosystems have been recycling nutrient and energy resources for millennia, and so, this idea of recycling organics is clearly a sustainable model for the long run.
Nature knows how to deal with organic waste by creating compost.
Homes in Minnesota typically produce 30% of their trash as organic material. That organic waste could be composted in a backyard compost bin, or hauled to a compost collection site! I estimate in my adult lifetime I have diverted at least 3 tons of organics out of my family’s waste stream. If you don’t want to maintain a backyard bin, Ramsey County residents can bring food waste, leaves, and branches to County compost sites. It is free, and you can pick up finished free compost or mulch for your gardens during your visit. Businesses can also reduce their organic waste by hiring haulers to take organics to large-scale composting facilities. ‘Large scale composting’ is a professional facility that carefully monitors temperatures and tests for pathogens, and can accept additional items such as meat, dairy, paper towels, and napkins. Maplewood, Ramsey County, and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce have resources to help businesses start or improve an organics recycling program (see page 2).
Residents can compost organic waste in backyard compost bins.
There are lots of businesses and organizations already leading the way! Maplewood has successfully implemented an organics collection program in all City buildings. Second Harvest Heartland is enhancing their organics program by recycling food that is packaged, as well as raw organics. Legacy Funeral Home recently added an organics collection program. All of these programs were started by a seed grant through Ramsey County’s Business Recycling program. We can all be inspired, and enrichened by nature to reduce waste, and get that “gold.” Please visit www.maplewoodmn.gov/compost for more information. At large scale composting sites the compost is checked for temperature and pathogens.
Follow the lines to see how long these items exist in the environment when they are thrown into the trash bin instead of being recycled or composted
Apple
Plastic Bottle
Paper
Paper Bag
Plastic Bag
Plastic Spoon
Compostable Spoon
By Kayla Wolfe, Naturalist
lets nature turn the waste into soil! turns the waste into something we can use again! Don’t let your trash be around
Centuries
Up to 1,000 Years
3 - 6 Months
Up to 450 Years
1 Month
2—6 Weeks
Answers: Apple: 1 month, Plastic Bottle: Up to 450 Years, Paper and Paper Bag: 2-6 Weeks, Plastic Bag: Up to 1,000 Years, Plastic spoon: Centuries, Compostable Spoon: 3-6 Months
Printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper
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