QUARTERLY ONE YEAR = ONE BAG OF TRASH JULIA SAMPSON MOVES TOWARDS ZERO-WASTE
UPTOWN GOES GOLD LEED RECOGNIZES GREEN + HEALTHY BUILDINGS
WILSON PARK IS FOR THE BIRDS APARTMENTS ARE A CERTIFIED HABITAT
A NEWSLETTER FOR MEMBERS OF SPECIALIZED REAL ESTATE GROUP COMMUNITIES
GETTING REAL WITH WASTE MANAGEMENT
BUILDING BETTER AND EMBRACING NATURE BY REDUCING WASTE
Standing in a giant metal warehouse on a hot July day, recycling gets real. Heavy machinery thunders by, filling huge bays with paper and cardboard. Colorful bales of compacted aluminum cans and plastic bottles tower overhead. The index cards from someone’s research paper join last month’s magazines in the bed of a trailer as they continue their journey to a new use. This is the point of departure for all the recyclables collected at Specialized’s Fayetteville properties. Brian Pugh, the City of Fayetteville Waste Reduction Coordinator, points out large semis waiting to be loaded. “That truck is headed to Morrilton to take a load of cardboard to make more boxes, and that one is mixed paper, headed to a plant in Muskogee to make toilet paper and paper towels,” he says. Recycling at apartments - also known as multifamily housing - is the final frontier of recycling in America, and in partnership with the City of Fayetteville, Specialized is proud to lead the pack. There are only five sites in Fayetteville that take part in the city’s multifamily pilot program, and four of them are managed by Specialized.
Brian Pugh, City of Fayetteville Waste Reduction Coordinator
In this issue of Connection Quarterly, we take a deep dive into recycling. We report on the impressive amount of materials that you and your neighbors have saved from landfills in 2017. We also introduce you to a neighbor at Willow Park Apartments who has taken recycling to another league. We hope you are inspired to embrace nature by reducing waste - together, we can recycle more!
— Specialized Real Estate Group
2• SPECIALIZED REAL ESTATE GROUP
e c i f f o e m o h r u o This wallfroimn reclaimed is made ds from the local trailer be industry! trucking
DID YOU KNOW? Specialized Real Estate Group is one of only a few property managers to offer recycling at apartments in NWA. Last year, we recycled 21.3 Tons of materials that would otherwise have gone to the landfill. Help us kick it up a notch by recycling your snack wrappers, single-use coffee cups, and coffee pods in the green containers at Eco Modern Flats, Uptown Fayetteville Apartments, and the SREG home office.
CONNECTION QUARTERLY: SUMMER 2018 • 3
1 YEAR = 1 BAG OF TRA JULIA SAMPSON MOVES TOWARD ZERO-WASTE
b� Emalie Cockrell
Julia Sampson, a neighbor at Willow Park Apartments, is a cornerstone of sustainability in Northwest Arkansas. She works for Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, where she helps to create innovative solutions for local farmers in thirteen southern U.S. states. She has served on the board of Ozark Natural Foods, co-directed the first project in NWA to feature meals created with “local food,” and founded Appleseeds NWA, which educates students about where their food comes from, how to grow it, and how to make healthy meals. Julia takes recycling seriously. On the day we spoke to her, she came out of her apartment carrying her recycling bin, which contained a kitty litter box and jars for coconut oil and multivitamins. She began really trying to reduce the landfill trash she produces in 2000, when the city of Fayetteville instituted a new system to reduce the city’s trash output, in which each household received two large trash bags each week. Opponents of the program said that wasn’t enough for large families, but environmental activists thought it was overly generous—an opinion which Julia shared. That year, she fit an entire year’s worth of trash in one thirty-gallon trash bag to prove that it could be done. The key, according to Julia, is planning before you actually go to the store. Julia takes containers with her when she shops to buy in bulk, and when she must purchase food in containers, she ensures that the container is recyclable. If it isn’t, she doesn’t buy it—”don’t even bring it home!” She calls this choice the “fourth R” of recycling—reduce, reuse, recycle, refuse.” According to Julia, “you have to use your dollars to vote,” especially when the health of the planet is concerned. Julia subscribes to the ecological philosophy of seven generation sustainability: this concept, which originated with the Iroquois, dictates that decisions be made by considering how they will affect children seven generations down the line. She says, “The land we live in and the earth are gifts. We are stewards. Our job is to take really, really good care of it.”
4 • SPECIALIZED REAL ESTATE GROUP
We hope that Julia’s life and philosophy can inspire you to make better decisions for the planet and your health through changing the ways you recycle and buy products. If you live at a Specialized Real Estate Group property, then you are lucky enough to have onsite recycling! If you don’t have a habit of recycling already, then set a small goal to start, as simple as recycling all of your cans for one month. If you’re in the habit of recycling already and are looking to decrease your landfill trash further, consider setting a goal to refuse more: try to
THE LAND WE LIVE IN AND THE EARTH ARE GIFTS. WE ARE STEWARDS. OUR JOB IS TO TAKE REALLY, REALLY GOOD CARE OF IT. be more conscious of whether or not the packaging for the products you buy are recyclable or compostable, or if they will have to go into a landfill.
ASH
HOW SHE DID IT Not everyone can make it a whole year with just one bag of trash, but Julia’s approach can help us all to have a lighter footprint. Plan before you shop Buy in bulk, bring your own reusable containers If it can’t be recycled, don’t bring it home
CONNECTION QUARTERLY: SUMMER 2018 • 5
COMMUNITY EVENTS SUMMER YOGA SERIES August 19th and September 23rd at Uptown, 9am August 26th and September 16th at ECO Modern Flats, Noon Trailside Yoga presents outdoor yoga with live DJ, sometimes accompanied by a cold beverage, and always ending with a pool party. FREE for members of Specialized Real Estate communities - just let your property manager know that you’d like to go! Guests may attend for $20 per class.
FAYETTEVILLE ROOTS FESTIVAL August 22-26 This five-day, intimate urban music and food festival homegrown in Arkansas draws fans from around the country. The fest features over 10 music stages and multiple culinary stages and events. Headliners include Gillian Welch and the Del McCoury Band. All-access passes for this event sold out in January, but single-event tickets are still available at therootsfest.org 7TH ANNUAL PESTO FEST September 8th Tri-Cycle Farms, the epicenter of urban farming in Fayetteville, invites you to an evening of food and music in the magical surroundings of a verdant farm tucked away in the middle of town. Visit the chickens, stroll acres of vegetables and flowers, or enter your best pesto to win prizes and the coveted Pesto Fest crown!
WILDLIFE HABITAT
WILSON PARK EARNS WILDLIFE CERTIFICATION
Thanks to Stephanie Farmer, Wilson Park Apartments is now a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat. To contribute to certification, Stephanie added a birdbath, a pollinator tube nesting box, host plants for native butterflies, and a rain barrel to harvest rainwater for garden irrigation.
SQUARE TO SQUARE BIKE RIDE September 22nd Start in Bentonville and pedal 30 beautiful miles to the Fayetteville Square with several aid stations along the way. This non-competitive ride should be on your NWA bucket list!
BIKES, BLUES, & BARBEQUE September 26-29 Hundreds of thousands of motorcycles descend on Northwest Arkansas for the weekend, creating off-the-charts peoplewatching opportunities. Don’t miss Saturday afternoon’s Parade of Power, as hordes of motorcycles ranging from the deluxe to the bizarre make their way down Dickson Street in Fayetteville.
HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS October 13th Relive the magical adventure of Harry Potter’s second year at school like never before at the WalMart AMP. This Symphony of Northwest Arkansas concert features the movie in highdefinition while a live orchestra performs John Williams’ otherworldly score. 6 • SPECIALIZED REAL ESTATE GROUP
MOVING TOGETHER CHALLENGE GRAB A TRAINING BUDDY & WE WILL PAY YOUR REGISTRATION FEES!
Any two (or more) SREG tenants or employees: Train for a race or ride together, and we’ll pay you each $30 toward your registration fees.
Fill out the form at: specializedreg.com/movingtogether
Tag your race day photo with #sregmovingtogether and we will mail you each a check for $30!
UPTOWN EARNS LEED CERTIFICATION Uptown has earned the US Green Building Council’s coveted LEED certification. LEED recognizes energy and resource-efficient buildings that are healthy to live in. Look for LEED medallions to be installed on each building soon! 2018
2018
Photo by Timothy Hursley
Building healthy places and connecting neighbors means that we consider not just the qualities of buildings, but the connectedness of the neighborhood surrounding them. A walkable neighborhood with a unique sense of place just feels better. It’s this feeling that we aim to capture in each of our projects.
BUILDING BETTER
EMBRACING NATURE
MOVING TOGETHER
SHARING FOOD
We consider efficiency, beauty and health in every decision we make.
We build and conserve places that connect people with nature.
We create opportunities to move—through design, events and service.
We see growing and sharing food as a vital part of every community we build.
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15 NORTH CHURCH AVENUE, SUITE 103 FAYETTEVILLE, AR 72701
WILSON PARK APARTMENTS @seedinthedirt
ECO MODERN FLATS @trailsideyoga
MARLEYMACK @marleymackbotique
HOME IS WHERE YOUR STORY BEGINS.
START IT WITH US MAMAKA BOWLS @fayettevillear
UPTOWN APARTMENTS @moze94