GGPR: Do you see important connections with the role you play in our community and our future on this planet? Would you like others in our community to know more about your efforts?
JEN: For years, I spent my time as a marketer in positions where I didn't truly feel like I was making a positive impact. About two years ago, I made the change and took a position with Verde Energy Efficiency Expert, where I believed in their mission to help our Chicagoland neighborhoods like Park Ridge, become energy efficient, and to help create more sustainable futures for the businesses and organizations that make our communities so great. I feel much more content, and fulfilled waking up every day feeling like I'm doing a small part to help move the needle in reducing our cities dependence on coal as well as reducing our collective carbon footprint. Verde Energy Efficiency Experts is an L3C, which is a low-profit social enterprise venture with a goal of benefitting society, not maximizing revenue. While at Verde, one of my proudest accomplishments has been the creation of the Light the Way grant program, which awards organizations with the gift of energy efficiency, a gift that lowers their daily operational costs, so that they can, in turn, use that money to further their mission. The entire Verde team works hard every day to streamline the process and make energy efficiency an easy and obvious decision for the private and public sector, and we're happy to do it. As a Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce member, I'm heading a committee to help businesses become aware of the resources available to them to be more sustainable. So far, we've announced the Green Star Business Award program, which looks to recognize businesses in Park Ridge that have made outstanding efforts in sustainability practices. My hope is to grow awareness, but also to demonstrate to our businesses that sustainability not only helps our community, but it is an important part of them preparing for the future, as well as attracting new generations of patrons that want to support businesses making these sorts of impactful changes. My husband, Dan and I alongside our three children, Charlie, Hazel and Theodore and dog, Phil are residents in Park Ridge and hope to be here for many years to come. Seeing our town make greener strides over the last year has been very exciting. I also recently joined the City of Park Ridge Sustainability Task Force. We have an amazingly tight-knit community, and we can do great things when we come together.
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GGPR: Do you see important connections with the role you play in our community and our future on this planet? Would you like others in our community to know more about your efforts?
DEANNA: For me, Going Green started with a reusable straw and from there I was able to incorporate other things like bringing reusable veggie bags to the grocery store and Farmers Markets, traveling with a reusable water bottle on my weekly flights to NYC, ditching plastic ziplock bags - simple stuff that I could tweak in my own life to make an overall impact on waste. When I started my business, Outta Thyme Veggie Butcher, I made a conscious decision to use packaging that could be reused, recycled and composted, to compost all of the veggie waste and to encourage customers to bring their own shopping bags – as I wasn’t providing plastic ones. I loved talking to customers about seasonal produce and the best way to prep, pair, cook and eat them BUT it was also a great opportunity to talk about why I chose to ‘Go Green’ with my business and how they could join in on this great initiative. Something as simple as bringing back their reusable plastic container for their next Veggie Butcher order was a huge win in cutting down on waste and incentive for them, as they received a discount on their order. We made some great progress during the 2018 Market Season, we are excited to be back in 2019! For the past several years, a small group of sustainability-minded members of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church have been working to help the congregation operate more sustainably. Go Green Park Ridge Members Cindy Grau and Carol Becker are part of this energetic team along with Jeff Greve and Jim Pearson. It’s a matter of Christian stewardship to reduce waste and save money for more charitable purposes. Here are a few examples that Go Green Park Ridge would like to recognize the St Luke’s Green Team for:
St Luke’s has a sustainable perennial garden managed by Master Gardeners. This group has become the go-to people for all things related to managing the grounds sustainably. Additionally, one year ago, a major drainage project was undertaken to ensure that all rainwater on the property is managed on-site with tiling, French drains and a rain garden. St Luke’s held a Bike to Church Sunday that eventually led to the installation of new bike racks adjacent to the parking lot. These ensure bike safety while more and more members begin to think about biking to church anytime the weather is good. The bike racks were made possible by memorial donations from members who are not on the committee, but still want to support Green Team projects. Sustainability efforts also extend to larger community events! St. Luke’s is the host to Sunday Night Suppers prepared and served on a rotating basis by many congregations in the community. The St Luke’s Green Team has recently made an impact on this weekly project by developing and implementing a composting program. Thanks to the cooperation of everyone who works on the supper service, the weekly meal has reduced its waste from several garbage cans full to only a few small bags of trash each week. Everything else, including eating utensils, plates, cups and food is composted with Collective Resource, Inc. On October 29, 2018, Kristi will speak at an important forum in Milwaukee, WI. We are so proud of the fact that Kristi's efforts in Park Ridge are recognized beyond our community. The Midwest Grows Green Lawn & Land Forum is a collaborative effort coordinated by advocacy experts and sponsors in the turf management industry. It's an annual event to document, summarize, and improve the state of Integrated Pest Management and Natural Lawn Care policies and practices locally, regionally, and nationally. All summaries, findings, and resources developed from this forum will remain open source to turf managers, policymakers, and individuals interested in applying IPM policies and programs to their work. Maine Park (pictured) has been our first official Pesticide Free Park in Park Ridge.
GGPR: Do you see important connections with the role you play in our community and our future on this planet? Kristi: Absolutely! The decisions made regarding maintenance of the Parks impacts the users of our Parks, my staff that maintain the Parks and the future of our planet. When decisions are being made regarding products to use on the Parks, great care and much thought is put into making those decisions. GGPR: Would you like others in our community to know more about your efforts? Kristi: I think that word regarding our efforts to be environmentally responsible in the care of our parks is spreading more each year. We hope this will allow the users of our parks to feel safe in using our parks. We also hope that by setting a good example and sharing knowledge, we can help residents decide what is right for their families in regard to turf care at their own homes. Do you see an important connection with the role you play in spreading environmental awareness and our future on this planet?
Park Ridge is one of 23 communities that is part of the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC), and as the Recycling and Education Director, I have had the privilege of educating and assisting the following groups with waste prevention and recovery initiatives through presentations, grants and programs: ● Chamber of Commerce ● Churches ● Go Green Park Ridge ● Library ● Municipal Staff - Coordinating special material collections (electronics, paper shredding, pharmaceuticals & sharps, fluorescent light bulbs and mercury items) ● Rotary Club ● School District 64 Would you like others in our community to know more about your efforts? As a resident of Park Ridge, it does my heart good to see that citizens and municipal staff are dedicated to implementing steps to be a more sustainable community. It is important to work together and share our expertise, and “Education empowers us to make changes where needed!” Information about the Agency’s programs and resources can be found at: Building A Sustainable Future: Go Green Park Ridge Changemakers
Many people may not realize it, but Tim's efforts reach far and wide! Tim cares for our environment in many roles. He is a great asset in Park Ridge! Tim Milburn has over 35 years of technical and commercial experience in energy and environmentally-related fields. He has been active as a business leader and practicing engineer in projects related to waste-to-energy, biofuels, materials recovery and recycling, municipal and industrial by-product management, alternative fuels for transportation (like electric and natural gas vehicles), renewable energy and energy efficiency, including programs in the US, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. He owns and operates an environmental/energy consulting and technology solutions company, called Green Ways 2Go, based in Park Ridge, focusing on green solutions in power and transportation. Tim is a member of GGPR and is on the Park Ridge Community Health Commission, a team of volunteers who are working with the City to establish sustainable practices and programs within Park Ridge, including developing a Sustainability Plan. This planning step will follow the Greenest Region Compact 2 Resolution signed by Mayor Maloney in September 2017. This Resolution states that the City is committed to sustainable practices. Key objectives of the Sustainability Plan are to find ways to increase the adoption of renewable energy, reduce energy consumption, reduce petroleum consumption and to better manage waste and water resources for Park Ridge homes, businesses, schools, park district and the City. Tim is also on the Executive Committee of the Northwest Cook County Sierra Club, a member of US DOE’s Chicago Area Clean Cities Steering Team and the Illinois Solar Energy Association and represents Park Ridge on the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Environmental Committee. Tim is a life-long Park Ridge resident and lives with his wife, Tracy, near Carpenter school. Do you see important connections with the role you play in our community and our future on this planet? Would you like others in our community to know more about your efforts?
Ryan Tracy, Beer On The Wall: We absolutely feel that as part of our local community as well as the beer community that each business decision we make should also have some degree of consideration towards environmental concerns. Brewers themselves are making tremendous strides with renewable energy-fueled breweries, and selling their spent grain to farms as feed for animals, so on the retail side of things we wanted to do our part as well. Our biggest waste is cardboard boxes/trays from which we receive our beer as well as aluminum and glass bottles that are consumed on site. When we first opened it was very important for us to engage our waste management company and get a recycling program set up for our store. We estimate about 2/3rds of our waste is cardboard, aluminum, and glass and based on watching our recycling bin fill up about twice as fast as our landfill bin. In addition, we also have made some small changes within our operation to make ourselves more eco-friendly as well. To reduce plastic/paper bag waste, we give members of our club a reusable bottle bag, and give them discounts for coming back with it. Our coffee service uses compostable straws, cups, and lids, and both coffee and beer consumed on-site is served in a re-usable glass. For theupcoming season we will be adding a new re-usable cups that our patrons can buy, come in and fill up to-go or use to drink from on-site that will also come with a discount just like the bottle bag. Finally, our point-of-sale system is equipped with capability to send receipts via e-mail or text thus reducing our paper use as well. Happy America Recycles Day! Our Next Change Maker is Alex Babich, an 11 year old at Eugene Field Elementary School. Along with the help and support of his parents, Alex is taking on a community project that is near and dear to his heart, as it honors the loss of his younger sister Kate in June of 2016. Alex is helping to conserve the planet one plastic bag at a time and provide Benches For Kate throughout Park Ridge in her memory. Alex and his family officially launched Benches For Kate in May 2017. Here is a special Change Maker interview with Alex conducted by Amy Bartucci, Founder of Go Green Park Ridge.
Did you already have an idea that plastic bags could be recycled into new products before Mr Bennett (aka Girl Scout King) came through with the idea for a collection for a bench for Kate? Well, sort of! I had seen a sample bench at Jewel-Osco one time. But, yes, Mr. Bennett thought of the purple ribbon collection from the trees in Park Ridge. (Jennifer, Alex’s mom added: Scott & his Girl Scout troop collected all the purple ribbons to recycle and also collected the rest of the necessary 500 pounds of plastic for the first bench. It is near the Girl Scout labyrinth at the Wildwood Nature Center.) Did you think collecting plastic bags would require so much (or so little) work? I really didn’t know if it would be hard or easy. I never cared if it was going to be something difficult. It was hard at first, until we got into our current system. We had to work out timing and scheduling our pickups and how and when it would be best to take the plastic bags to Jewel after we weighed them. We have a daily pickup at Centennial Fitness Center and we pick up as needed at Maine Park and Centennial Activity Center. We drop off plastic about two times a month, with help from a friend Mrs Gonzalo, at Jewel on Busse. People at Jewel have been very nice! What kinds of things have you ever made out of trash? Well, recycling ideas in our family usually came from Kate. She would happily make things out of old boxes all the time. She was the real recycler. I am glad to be doing this now though. I can make a difference by collecting 500 lbs of plastic for each bench. We have one bench at the nature center, one at St Andrews Lutheran, and one coming up! Did you ever hear of the old adage “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure?” Yes. I never thought of it that way, but I do now! Do you practice or remember a certain thought, phrase, or visual memory when you are doing something so special in Kate’s name in Park Ridge? Yes, I envision a cleaner ocean! I want to save marine animals. Tell us about the weighing task you take on. Is it easy? Hard? Educational? Fun? Weighing is really the easy part. We leave the bags of plastic in our garage until we weigh each collection before taking them to Jewel for Trex – the company that makes the benches. We use a spring scale. My mom keeps a spreadsheet that we total up our weights and we contact Trex so they know how much plastic we have collected towards the next bench in Park Ridge. What are some things that could make your job easier? Plastic bottles - keep them out of the bins! What can others do to help you further? We use our own larger kitchen garbage bags for the loose bags in the collection bins. It would be helpful if people tied up their bags into a larger bag because I hang the bags on our scale. This isn’t necessary though. Did you ever think you’d be interviewed for something as usual as a “plastic bag collection”? No! What’s your favorite part of the Benches For Kate effort? Pickups make you feel like you’re doing something important - especially on Sundays - we’re doing something together. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a collection bin? A loofah from the shower! GGPR: Do you see an important connection with the role you have played to make your business more environmentally friendly and our future on this planet? Would you like others in our community to know more about your efforts? (Holly Recently Shared Her Press Release With Us) 63,180 lbs of hair clippings, 42,122 lbs of hair colour, 109,512 lbs of foil and colour tubes, and 206, 392lbs of wastepaper, salon bottles, and other paper and plastic items – that’s the amount of waste being tossed out by hair salons across North America EVERY SINGLE DAY; that’s a whopping total of 421,206 lbs! As a newly Green Circle Certified Salon, we are proud to announce that Ash & Willow Eco Salon is now part of a comprehensive recycling and sustainability program that sets out to significantly reduce our industry’s environmental impact on the planet. From the sourcing of ingredients to the disposal of packaging and products, the salon and beauty industry has long posed many challenges to the environment. With this in mind, we wanted to join forces with Green Circle to take a stand for our planet and work together to reduce our ecological footprint and make our industry more sustainable. Through our partnership with Green Circle Salons, we will be redirecting what was once considered garbage out of our water streams and landfills to be repurposed into innovative green solutions. Starting September 19, all hair clippings, extensions, any excess colour and developer, papers and plastics, foils, aerosol cans and colour tubes from Ash & Willow Eco Salon will be collected by GCS - effectively cutting down our salon’s total waste, literally overnight, by 85-95%! As our customers continue to take increasing interest in the ethical and environmental impacts of their purchasing power, we wanted to give our customers a genuinely more responsible, and greener choice when it comes to looking and feeling beautiful. As a member of the GCS network, Ash & Willow empowers our customers with the ability to vote with their dollars for positive change. By supporting our salon, our customers have the peace of mind knowing that they are taking meaningful steps to keeping our communities and environment healthy. Ash & Willow Eco Salon and Beauty Apothecary
604 Devon Park Ridge, IL 773-619- 2128 Go Green Park Ridge asked Vanessa about her role in stepping up to be our "Point Person" to get commercial composting up and running in Park Ridge! Please email vanessahill75@gmail.com for more information on how you can get bi-weekly pickup for compostables at YOUR residence!
GGPR: Do you see an important connection with the role you play in spreading awareness of composting and our future on this planet? Would you like others in our community to know more about your efforts? Vanessa: As a city kid, I never really had a relationship with growing food or thinking about how to use food waste to best impact the planet. It wasn't until moving to Park Ridge three years ago that we started with a few tomato plants and began to understand how valuable compost can be to the growing process. We began to compost ourselves and our food gardens have expanded to take over almost all of the border areas of our yard. Seeing how much of our daily waste was able to be composted instead of being thrown away was eye opening. As I heard about other communities piloting commercial composting programs and the additional waste items that can be composted commercially, I was excited. Thankfully, Go Green Park Ridge was able provide some experience and know-how to help us begin our own pilot. With so many issues facing our planet today, it is sometimes difficult to feel you can impact anything on your own. It was a wonderful experience to see my small efforts translate into something tangible and I feel lucky to live in such a great community. |
Park Ridge:Take a look at what your neighbors are doing for Park Ridge sustainability! |