WILD connections

August 24, 2009 / / No Comments

Last week I had the privilege of joining a “green jobs” panel at Seattle’s International District Housing Alliance (IDHA). The panel was convened as part of the IDHA’s Wilderness Inner-City Leadership Development (WILD) program, which connects high school aged youth to important community and environmental issues. These kids often act as translators and disseminators of information for the elder members of their communities.

I brought Jordon along to serve as an ECOSS witness of the event. Christina Twu, IDHA’s WILD coordinator, facilitated the event and welcomed us to the group. When it was my turn to speak, I talked about ECOSS’ role as a mediator between businesses, governments and communities, and how we work with local businesses to help them with their “green” efforts.

The kids were sharp and had a number of prepared questions for the panel members. It was interesting to learn that the idea of “green jobs” was a fairly ambiguous concept for them. I agreed with their sentiment and noted that terms like “green” and “sustainability” often mean different things to different people, but that the important thing is to figure out what you’re excited about first. Once you do that, you can always incorporate sustainability into your work in meaningful ways.

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After the Q and A session with the panel, there was a mock job interview session. Jordon and I each interviewed a WILD participant and tried to prepare them for real interviews by helping them know what to expect, how to prepare, which questions to count on, etc. My interviewee, a kid named Raphael, was great. His qualifications always went back to his interpersonal skills. It was fantastic.

I had a great time as a panel member and am excited to see how these young leaders impact our community in the future.

-Aldan

Turning brownfields into works of art in Georgetown

August 4, 2009 / / No Comments

ECOSS’ Brownfield’s expert Emery Bayley, and the King County Brownfields Program managed by Lucy Auster, helped artists John Sutton, Ben Beres and Zac Culler in their quest to find a clean canvas to build a new Georgetown landmark. SuttonBeresCuller spent months looking for an abandoned gas station that they could reclaim and turn into a Mini-Mart Park.

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With Emery’s assistance, they found the old Perovich Gas Station on Ellis Street, a site with soil and groundwater contamination from leaking underground storage tanks. According to Brendan Kiley in ARCADE Journal, “the project, Mini Mart City Park, will be a building that is a park and a park that is a building, as well as a restoration project, a community center and a contained, three-dimensional object…” The King County Brownfields Program, which is funded by grants from EPA, conducted Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments on the site and is supporting further assessment from the EPA’s Targeted Brownfield Assessment program so the project can keep moving forward. Learn more about the project on their website.

-Elise

Update: First ECOSSolutions event = Awesome

May 12, 2009 / / No Comments

The other week, we hosted the ECOSSolutions information session I mentioned in a previous blog entry. I thought it went quite well. The panel was informative about their respective programs and they gave clear, direct answers to questions from the audience.

Patrick Hoermann and Trevor Fernandes shared relevant stories about past experiences with former clients who saved money on hazardous waste disposal through financial incentives, while Jeff Ketchel demonstrated how easy it is to use the IMEX website to find or list waste materials. Michael Arbow of EcoLights NW and Yvonne Pascal and Dave Baugh of Total Reclaim spoke about disposal services for fluorescent lights, HVAC materials and e-waste. This combination of experts gave attendees disposal options for a wide range of materials.

The best part of the session was the great turnout from local businesses. 23 owners, managers and staff members attended the event, and several people stayed afterward to chat with each other and with the guest experts. Many said they enjoyed the casual, relaxed format of the session and a few made arrangements to follow up for future business or assistance opportunities.

Stay tuned for the next ECOSSolutions event, which is slated for some time this summer, topic TBA. Thanks to the Seattle Office of Economic Development, ECOSS staff and all the attendees who made this first session a success.

-Aldan

ECOSSolutions launches April 30th

April 8, 2009 / / 1 Comment

ECOSSolutions is a new Information Series we’re launching to help local businesses and communities with sustainability issues. We’ll have sessions about once a quarter to talk about ways businesses can save money and improve their sustainability efforts. Our first session is scheduled for the end of this month at the South Park Neighborhood Center, and the topic is Hazardous Waste Management. We’ve got a great lineup of experts from King County, the Industrial Materials Exchange program, and Total Reclaim/EcoLights Northwest. They’ll give us a little background on their programs, talk about how to deal with various types of hazardous waste, and explain ways to save a lot of money on proper disposal through existing programs. It should be a relaxed atmosphere where people can ask direct questions about any hazardous waste challenges they’re facing.

We’re excited to kick off this new program and we’re hoping for a good turnout from local business owners and staff. Please join us if you are interested in the topic: April 30th, 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. It’s early, but we’ll have coffee and pastries to help get your day going.

-Aldan

ECOSS Green Gains – Fox Plumbing and Heating

January 12, 2009 / / No Comments

I recently worked with Fox Plumbing and Heating to help them improve their solid waste stream. Through outreach in the South Park neighborhood, I met a Fox staff member interested in adopting office recycling at their business. At the time, Fox was recycling only cardboard and disposing of many other recyclable materials, including office paper, in the garbage.

First, I noted the sizes of Fox’s waste containers as well as their frequency of pickup, and later calculated costs for various combinations of garbage and recycling containers by size. After determining the optimal combination, ECOSS contacted the waste hauling service and enrolled Fox in the new waste program.

Fox now recycles office waste that previously was sent to a landfill, making their operations better for the environment. In addition, the company realizes monthly savings from having downsized its garbage container.

Does your business need similar services? Contact me for more details.
Click here for a listing of waste hauling services in Seattle.

-Aldan Shank