GreenTimes
A special environmental edition
November/December 2015
Seven honored for environmental excellence
A Woodbury school and business were among the
recipients of the City of Woodbury’s eighth annual
Environmental Excellence Awards presented at
the Nov. 18 City Council meeting.
Award recipients were nominated for their efforts
in the areas of energy efficiency and conservation;
environmental education and awareness; innovative stormwater management; water conservation;
and waste reduction and recycling. Additionally, a
new award category was developed in 2015: commitment to environmental leadership.
The Environmental Excellence Awards were developed in 2008 to promote sustainability in the
community, by recognizing businesses, organizations, and individuals that are making Woodbury
a more sustainable community through innovative
programs and practices that demonstrate environmental leadership.
The 2015 winners and their area of recognition
are:
Red Rock Elementary - Waste
Reduction and Recycling
Red Rock Elementary and South Washington
County Schools partnered with the Washington
County Department of Public Health and
Environment and the City of Woodbury to
initiate a comprehensive recycling program
at the school, focusing on high volume waste
materials such as milk cartons and paper. Red
Rock students started recycling milk cartons
in January 2015 and by the end of the school
year in June they had collected more than
80,000 milk cartons.
One of the most notable features of the program at Red Rock is the extensive involvement of the students in the new recycling
effort. Students volunteer to collect recycling
from classrooms, the library and office areas.
The students actively participate in the milk
carton recycling by emptying their milk cartons, then placing them in a recycling bin.
Over the course of a school year, diverting
milk cartons from the school’s trash stream
could eliminate up to 17 trash pick-ups, providing an opportunity to reduce hauling costs.
The number of cartons recycled at Red Rock
in one school year will provide enough fiber to
produce 448 reams of paper.
continued on back
Learn the benefits of solar power Jan. 12
The City of Woodbury is partnering with the
Midwest Renewable Energy Association and
the Grow Solar initiative to host a Solar Power
Hour, Tuesday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. This free
one-hour seminar provides information on the
benefits of installing a solar array on your home,
small business or farm. The workshop will take
place in the Council Chambers on the second
level of City Hall, 8301 Valley Creek Road.
Participants will learn about the benefits of solar
energy, including how to install a rooftop solar
array and why solar is more affordable than ever
due to current tax incentives. The seminar will
help consumers navigate the process of working
with a solar installer and help them understand
the available options.
Topics to be covered include:
z Basics of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system
z Market trends
z Step-by-step pro-
cess to determine
if solar is right for
you
z Economic benefits
In addition to the
one-hour seminar,
participants will have
the opportunity to
ask questions and meet with professional
solar installers that meet or exceed Midwest
Renewable Energy Association’s qualification
standards for credentialing and experience.
For more information and to register for this
FREE event, visit www.woodburysolar.eventbrite.com.
To learn more about planning a solar project,
visit www.cleanenergyprojectbuilder.org.
The winners of the eighth annual Environmental
Excellence Awards were recognized at the Nov.
18 City Council meeting. The awards were
developed in 2008 to promote sustainability in the
community.
Environmental Center
expands hours
Washington County has increased the hours
of its Environmental Center from 17 to 31
hours each week.
The new hours went into effect Tuesday, Nov.
3. They are:
z
z
z
z
Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Environmental Center is located at
4039 Cottage Grove Drive in Woodbury.
For information on what is accepted at
the Environmental Center, visit www.
co.washington.mn.us/envirocenter.
Environmental excellence...from front
Crossroads Properties - Waste
Reduction and Recycling
Since 1989, Crossroads Properties has been
engaged in the business of developing, owning,
leasing and managing a commercial real estate
portfolio exceeding over 500,000 square feet
of commercial space. In June 2014, Crossroads
staff attended an outreach presentation hosted
by City of Woodbury to promote a new program
called BizRecycling. Washington and Ramsey
Counties started BizRecycling to provide technical assistance and grant funding for businesses
to develop and implement solid waste recycling
and organic waste recovery programs. Since
then, Crossroads has worked extensively with
BizRecycling and city staff to implement a
comprehensive recycling program at six multitenant buildings at the Crossroads Commerce
Center in Woodbury.
Crossroads worked extensively with the staff at
BizRecycling and the City of Woodbury to put
bins in place, and implement a comprehensive
recycling program at their properties. After six
months of project implementation, Crossroads
reported that even with an increase in tenants
and increased recycling pick-up frequency;
there was not an increase in the amount of
waste produced. Additional recycling efforts
include introducing plastic film recycling in July
2015 and holding a zero-waste tenant appreciation lunch in August 2015, where tenants sorted
lunch waste into either organics or recycling
bins. Crossroads is a model for other property
owners on how to implement a successful recycling program.
Beechwood of Dancing Waters
Townhome Association - Water
Conservation
The Beechwood of Dancing Waters Townhome
Association board steered an effort to partner
with Horticulture Services to develop a plan
to replace its existing irrigation system with
a “smart” irrigation system. The hope was to
install a system that would provide better system control, resulting in a significant reduction
in water use. In spring 2015, existing controllers
were replaced with a system that provides computer software that monitors controller operation, obtains real time water usage data, and
makes zone adjustments as necessary. Weather
data such as temperature, rainfall, wind, humidity and other factors are used by the controller
to automatically adjust zone operation frequency and run times. The system notifies the
association’s landscape contractor when problems are detected, so adjustments can be made.
The installed system is expected to reduce water
usage by approximately 20 to 40 percent.
Heritage Glen Townhome
Association - Innovative
Stormwater Management
Practices
Residents of Heritage Glen, a 100-unit townhome association, removed more than 4,600
square feet of turf, and replaced it with two
rain gardens and two native planting areas.
The projects were done in partnership with the
South Washington Watershed District through
its Water Quality Cost Share Program. The gardens contain native plants that do not require
irrigation and will instead provide water quality benefits, in addition to habitat for bees and
butterflies. The gardens are each expected
to remove 2.65 pounds of phosphorous from
the water runoff. The board is committed to
continuing the project and expects to install an
additional rain garden in 2016.
Gasperini family - Energy
Efficiency and Conservation
The Gasperini family has shown significant
commitment to energy and water conservation
through the renovation of their farm house.
The project incorporated several technologies
and practices, including the use of insulation,
energy efficient appliances, programmable
thermostat, on-demand hot water heater, and
the installation of a rooftop solar array in 2013.
The array provides more electricity than the
family can consume on a monthly basis. Excess
energy produced by the solar panels inspired
the family to purchase an electric vehicle that
can use the excess energy produced, instead of
selling the excess back to Xcel Energy.
As a result, the family has saved approximately
$2,000 per year on electricity, in addition to
gasoline savings from the electric vehicle. The
family pays a budgeted amount of approximately $80 per month for natural gas. Most
of the modifications that were incorporated
into this project could be replicated by other
Woodbury residents, providing both financial
and environmental benefits.
Dana Boyle - Environmental
Education and Awareness
Tamarack Nature Preserve is one of the
highest quality natural areas in the RamseyWashington Metro Watershed District and
contains plant communities that are rare
in this area. Dana Boyle advocates for the
protection of plants in the preserve by raising awareness of this local resource and
providing opportunities for area residents to
enjoy the beauty of the preserve. She has led
several tours of the area, and has developed
a field guide with plant photos and identification information that she shares with
interested residents. Her efforts allow others
to fully appreciate the unique qualities of the
Tamarack Preserve.
Anna Barker - Commitment to
Environmental Leadership
Anna Barker was nominated for her work as
a “citizen catalyst” within the community.
Since 2001, she has been committed to seeing
environmental improvements in Woodbury.
She has engaged the appropriate stakeholders
and volunteered on many projects within the
community. She was instrumental in a joint
project between the Washington Conservation
District and the four Carver Lake homeowners
associations, where she navigated a complicated process to develop stormwater best management practices for the Carver Lake area.
Barker has been a long-time champion for the
environment and an environmental educator. She helped initiate rain gardens at Trinity
Presbyterian Church and Crosswinds Arts and
Science School. In addition, she has volunteered at various events including buckthorn
busting, the Landscape Workshop and the
Native Plant Sale, and worked with city staff on
a variety of environmental programs.
The Recycling Association of
Minnesota (RAM), in partnership with
WCCO and Clean Energy Resource
Teams, is sponsoring its annual
Recycle Your Holidays(tm) program.
This statewide program provides
convenient and FREE recycling
of holiday lights, beginning Nov.
15 through the end of January.
Unlike any other holiday lights recycling program in the country, this program recycles every part of the light
strand. The lights are collected and
sorted at vocational centers throughout Minnesota, which employ more
than 200 individuals with disabilities.
In Woodbury, year-round drop-off
locations for holiday lights are available at Frattalone’s Ace Hardware
in the Valley Creek Mall and at the
Washington County Environmental
Center, 4039 Cottage Grove Drive.
For a list of additional locations, visit
www.RecycleMinnesota.org.