Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 4:11PM | Andrew Rea September 2011 Meeting
Uncovering the Underbelly of Recycling… How dark is your green?
Kimberly KeytonGuest Speaker: Kimberly Keyton
Topic: The unknown economic benefits of greening for business owners.
Description: It's back to school for the kids and time to reassess your plan for functioning leaner and greener. Kimberly will help our members and guests wrap their minds around an upstream / downstream approach to running their businesses green. So if you’ve done a lot of different green things here and there.... but you feel like you need to find a better way to run your business sustainably, get yourself over to The Camp at ECCO, Tuesday, Sept. 13th and get your - Strategic Green Think - on!
Come meet others interested in going green at SBLC's monthly meeting. Open to anyone interested in going green!
Share with business owners, executives, and other regional leaders what you do that is eco-friendly. Even if you do not do anything "Green" and just want to learn; you are welcome to join us.
- Date: September 13, 2011
- Time: 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- Location: ECCO Restaurant at the Camp in Costa Mesa
- Address: 2937 Bristol, Suite A103, Costa Mesa 92626
- Cost: SBLC Members $10 per person, Non-Members $15 per person, Students $5 per person
- For more information call (877) 890-5606
Andrew Rea
Observations form our September SBLC meeting
Ms. Keyton’s mantra for the evening was "Everything you throw away, is money you’ve spent." Businesses and multi-family dwellings are presently throwing away a lot of what they've spent (less than 50% of the businesses in California recycle their waste).
;)
The discussion turned to the “underbelly of recycling.” The underbelly of recycling revolves around the sanitation truck that takes it's contents to a clean material recovery facilities (better known as MRF'S) or a dirty MRF's. By the way, if you want to really change things in your town for the greener and save some city tax dollars while you're at it, go to your next city council meeting and ask them why only 1 truck collecting all trash? When they dismiss you saying 1 truck means 1 driver and that saves taxpayers in labor costs, ask them if they realize how much it's going to cost to pay to have the trash hauled out of state, when all the landfills are full? There are only 3 in OC and they cannot make anymore.
At this point a heated discussion regarding polystyrene (styrofoam) ensued. John Rizzo of Pak West relayed his experience in trying to convince clients to do the right thing by switch to packaging that is easily recyclable, even though the cost benefit isn’t always there. It’s a hard sell. Recyclers make their money on the weight of a item and polystyrene is all air. Few locations recycle it so the toxicity stemming from production to ingestion, along with the ongoing release of styrene into landfills won't end anytime in the near future. Unless, we refuse it's use - whether its the free cup of coffee at your golf course or your favorite take-out place.
;)
Kimberly Keyton
Laura Rea mentioned that the demand for local manufacturing was increasing as more people become aware of the impact outsourcing is having on or economy and our society.
John Rizzo asked Kimberly to address ewaste. Kimberly mentioned AB939. This piece of legislation is the only reason why cities recycle in California. So legislation requires ewaste to be recycled. As long as there is an economic reason to recycle the e-waste, cities and organizations will continue to do so. Ms. Rea interjected that a lot of e-waste is still shipped to china.
That question came from Jennifer Thomas regarding pet waste. She wanted to know what to do with it. Kimberly said that as of now pet waste can’t be recycled. You can compost in your yard if you choose to, but other than that you have to throw into the trash.
The evening ended with an upbeat discussion of how to advance business sustainability by participating in awards programs put on by the EPA or Cities that highlight what you've been doing to green your business. It helps build credibility for green with businesses in your industry and helps them see how green can turn to gold, so to speak!
Reader Comments (2)
Hello
I am happy to learn about the Sustainable Business Leadership Council, as I hope to become a certified eco-consultant through Green Irene and offer a quality, well-vetted certification service in connection with the Green Business Bureau. I am going to add your event to my website, and plan to create a blog post as well. If someone there is interested in providing a quote or other insights in the blog post, I would be glad to hear from you.
Diane,
It was great having you at our meeting. Thanks for stopping by.