October 30, 2006

PASADENA HONORS OUTSTANDING RECYCLERS

Outstanding Recycler Award Winners for 2006 are California School of Culinary Arts, Clean Agency, Marty Coleman, Path to Freedom and Typecraft, Wood & Jones, announces the city of Pasadena.

Awards are given each fall to promote excellent environmental and recycling programs established in the community.

They will be honored at the Monday, Nov. 6, City Council meeting, kicking off Environmental Awareness Month.

California School of Culinary Arts won for Educational Outreach that Inspires Environmental Stewardship. The school has developed a recycling program that benefits the school, environment, and the city by extensive recycling, organic gardening, waterless urinals, water-pressurized broom and plans for recycling food waste. Benefits of the program have been measured in reduction of resource use and waste, and in motivating tomorrow’s chefs to bring their environmental practices with them wherever their culinary work takes them.

Clean Agency won the Creative Reuse of Common Objects award for inventing a unique, environmentally-friendly container called the Rapioli made from recycled plastic used to make water and soda bottles. The Rapioli is a fully integrated packaging and shipping solution created after a design challenge issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. The container is designed for hundreds of shipments and will collapse into a simple, flat, easily returnable unit. Its production will increase recycling rates and values for specific CRV beverage container plastics.

Resident Marty Coleman won the award for Preservation of Natural Resources Through Creation of a Residential Garden. Surrounding her home is a garden that attracts birds, butterflies and kindergartners from Mayfield School who are taught the importance of being close to the earth. The entire yard and parkway is intensely planted with fruit trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables and water features, with not a blade of grass in sight. All rainwater is able to percolate into the ground. Coleman has created an oasis in an urban environment that reduces the home’s temperature and energy use.

Path to Freedom won the award for Sustainable Development Practices. Founded by Jules Dervaes in 2001, Path to Freedom is a not-for-profit, viable urban homesteading project established to promote a simpler and more fulfilling lifestyle and reduce one family's "footprint" on Earth's dwindling resources. Since the mid-80s all five family members have transformed their lot into an organic garden supplying them year-round with food. They also sell salad greens to local restaurants. They have installed solar panels, energy efficient appliances, and a biodiesel processor to further decrease their homestead's reliance on the earth’s non-renewable resources. Their metal roof allows the household to collect and store rainwater for garden use. They have also created a bike blender and grain mill to harness human energy, among many other innovative appliances.

Typecraft, Wood & Jones won the award for Voluntary Development of a Source Reduction Program. The printing company worked with Scientific Certification Systems to become Forest Stewardship Council certified. The business has a documentation system to track paper stock as it moves through the plant and back to a healthy managed forest. This allows the company to offer its customers a choice of recycled paper stocks with certified post-consumer waste content as well as virgin fiber from approved forests.