What's New

In 1992, LaserCycle began selling remanufactured toner cartridges as a way to help businesses reduce their office printing costs and its associated impact on our environment. Their feature product, grenk™, is designed to leave the smallest environmental footprint possible. Boxes are made from the highest available content of recycled material and are chain-of-custody certified. Storage bags are made from a new oxygen-degradable polyethylene film that begins degrading in months instead of hundreds of years like standard bags. The cartridges are test-printed, and those test sheets are shredded and reused to fill the storage bags. Air pillows not only protect our cartridges, they reduce the amount of plastic we use. An ARS label is included in each box for FREE shipping back to the manufacturer. All components that aren't reusable are placed into a best-practices recycling stream. Nothing is thrown away. Through tracking software, business customers can receive a monthly report of the exact amount of cartridge waste kept from the landfill.
Not only does LaserCycle operate a green business, but they infuse sustainability into every part of their daily practices. Their office Green Team has implemented the following environmental practices:
• Use of filtered vs. bottled water within the workplace.
• Converting to energy efficient lighting
• Paper recycling
• Resale of locally produced products whenever possible to lower fuel consumption
• Partnership for the environmental disposal of office equipment and workplace electronics
• Consultation on migrating print fleets to more efficient “Energy Star” models
• Use of electronic vs. print newsletters and communications
• Recycling containers throughout the facility for paper, plastics and metals
• Customer pick-up and collection sites for the recapture of used printer cartridges for remanufacturing
• Promotion of “Print Less” internal campaign
LaserCycle’s commitment to the environment has been recognized by the EPA’s WasteWise program, a voluntary program that encourages an environmental footprint reduction from member companies. To achieve partner status, a company must show a reduction in their footprint utilizing innovative processes and well-managed materials management practices. They were also honored with Johnson County’s “Emerald Green Business Award” in 2011. LaserCycle, along with the other nine recipients, diverted a combined total of 1,227 tons of waste from landfills to recycling and composting. As an award winner, they had to show achievements in categories of waste reduction, reuse and recycling, outreach and education and policies.
For more information, please call Josh Trask at 913-742-0635 or email at jtrask@lasercycle.com.
 

In 2009, Kansas Citians threw away 150 million pounds of perfectly good glass. To the dismay of the people at Boulevard Brewing Company, this included some 10 million empty Boulevard bottles - lost forever, buried in local landfills.
Area businesses use nearly 200 million pounds of recycled glass every year, so why was it so hard to recycle glass? Because there was no nearby facility to process the glass. And why no local processor? Because, in classic chicken-and-egg fashion, there was almost no local recycling.
The folks at Boulevard finally got tired of being part of the problem. So, with the support of local companies and community organizations, they came up with a solution - Ripple Glass.
Ripple constructed a state-of-the-art processing plant, and placed dedicated glass recycling containers throughout the metro area. They found a local customer that converts the recycled glass into fiberglass insulation, saving enormous amounts of energy and dramatically lowering emissions, and a business in Tulsa that turns amber glass back into bottles, including those used by Boulevard!
The Ripple effect has spread, with containers throughout the area. Ripple's facility is processing glass from all over the region, helping other communities keep glass out of their landfills while giving it the new life it deserves.
Why recycle glass?
Here are some important facts you should know about glass recycling.
 Container glass is 100% recyclable, can be recycled endlessly, and is a primary ingredient in fiberglass insulation and new glass containers.
 Burying perfectly good glass in the landfill wastes all the material, energy, and labor that went into making it.
 Using recycled glass produces 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than creating new glass (or fiberglass) from raw materials.
 Every ton of glass that's recycled results in more than one ton of raw materials saved. That's 1,300 lbs. of sand, 410 lbs. of soda ash, 380 lbs. of limestone, and 150 lbs. of feldspar.
 Recycling just one glass bottle saves enough electricity to light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours. (Imagine how long it would light a compact fluorescent!)
 A six-pack of recycled beer bottles produces enough fiberglass insulation to fill a standard wall cavity.
 Kansas Citians consume approximately 80,000 tons of container glass each year. In the past, because of the difficulty and inconvenience, only about 5% was recycled. (Nationally, the average recycling rate is over 30% and climbing; in many places in the world, it's north of 90%!)
 Glass isn't collected in most area curbside recycling programs, and for good reason. When mixed with other recyclables, broken glass degrades and contaminates those materials, causing them to be "downcycled" into lower quality products.
 

The U.S. Composting Council Board of Directors is pleased to announce a call for entries for its 2012 ICAW Poster Contest. The contest will run from September 15 until November 30, 2011 and is open to anyone who wants to help celebrate composting and promote the benefits of composting and compost use. The winning poster will serve as the 2012 International Compost Awareness Week promotional media piece.

"The poster becomes a centerpiece for International Compost Awareness Week promotions. The artwork is always inspiring and often presents new and interesting ways to share thoughts about the benefits of compost", said Frank Franciosi, USCC President.

This year's participants are tasked with creating a poster that reflects the theme "Compost!...Replenish the Earth for Generations." Posters must be submitted to the USCC by Wednesday, November 30, 2011. Online judging will take place in December. The Poster Contest Winner will have his/her poster reproduced and distributed nationwide as the official 2012 International Compost Awareness Week poster and featured on the US Composting Council Web site www.compostingcouncil.org. The overall winner will receive a $500 prize and other divisional winners will each receive a $100 prize. Contest divisions are grades 3-7, grades 7-12, and college - adult. All participants will receive an ICAW/USCC Certificate of Participation.

Previous winning posters, as well as this year's registration forms and rules can be viewed at
Poster Rules and Application. For questions, please contact icaw@compostingcouncil.org.

USCC 2011 ICAW sponsors included: A-1 Organics, BASF, BioBag, BioCycle, Chick-fil-A, City of San Jose, Coca Cola, Composting News, EcoSafe®~6400, Filtrexx International, Garick Corp., GenPak, Ingeo by NatureWorks, MSW Management Magazine, MWV M-Ware, PepsiCo, Resource Recycling, Reotemp Instruments, Waste Handling Equipment News, WeCare Organics, U.S. EPA Resource Conservation Challenge

International Compost Awareness Week Organizers include:
US Composting Council - Compostingcouncil.org
Composting Council of Canada - Compost.org
Ireland Composting Association - Cre.ie
Compost Australia - Wmaa.asn.au
European Compost Network - Compostnetwork.info

The US Composting Council is a national non-profit organization dedicated to the development and expansion of the composting industry in the U.S. For more information about the composting industry and membership in the USCC, visit www.compostingcouncil.org
 

A public forum to gain input from Topeka residents on strategies to meet the goals of the Energy Efficience and Conservation Strategy will be hosted by the Topeka Sustainability Advisory Board at 6 p.m. June 29 at Central Park Community Center, 1534 S.W. Clay.

The Topeka City Council adopted the EECS last year. It establishes a set of municipal operation and communitywide energy efficiency and conservation goals achievable through a variety of strategies, including advisory board-supported consumer education initiatives, contractor training, building code revisions, and municipal operations policy changes and facility upgrades. The strategy can be found at http://www.topeka.org/pdfs/CityofTopekaEECS.pdf.

The board recently established committees to address each of the major goals. These committees are:

— Transportation

— Municipal Operations & Recycling

— Energy Codes

— Residential Efficiency

Following a brief overview of the EECS, residents will be asked to participate in group discussions pertaining to each of the committee areas. The EECS will be discussed at the forum, but attendees should try to review it at the above link prior to the meeting, paying specific attention to the “Implementation Plan” (pages 55-59).

Community members will work in collaboration with SAB members to determine the best ways to reach EECS goals, including recommending education/outreach activities and determining the best programs for residences, government and businesses to reduce energy consumption and, as a result, monthly operating budgets.

Residents also are encouraged to volunteer for each of these committees on a longer term basis. For more information, contact Scott Alisoglu at 368-1611 or salisoglu@topeka.org.