| Phoenix, Recyclebank Invites Residents to Free, Family-friendly Community Event | 24 | Phoenix, Recyclebank Invites Residents to Free, Family-friendly Community Event | Recyclebank-community-event | | <div class="ExternalClassDA07EF4C3645444BB09697EA709160AE"><p><img src="/publicworkssite/MediaAssets/Recyclebank%20Reimagine%20Phoenix.jpg" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:600px;height:307px;" />Recyclebank, Phoenix's new partner in waste diversion and sustainability, invites Phoenix residents and other members of the community to a family-friendly event 5 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the Arizona Science Center, 600 E. Washington St. The goal of the event to introduce the Phoenix community to a new rewards program that educates participants on how to divert more waste from the landfill while earning redeemable points.</p><p>The rewards program works by going to <a href="http://recyclebank.com/">recyclebank.com</a>, where participants can easily sign up to activate their account. The website offers several sustainability articles and waste diversion tips participants can read and then earn points that will be added to their account. The site also has videos, recycling tips, craft ideas using recyclable materials, as well as opportunities to enroll in any of Phoenix's solid waste programs, all of which allow participants to earn points. </p><p>Points can be redeemed for savings at local businesses and national chains, such as Bunky Boutique, AMC Theatres and Target. </p><p>For mobile device users, the Recyclebank app can be downloaded for free.</p><p>At the free, family-friendly community event, guests can enjoy activities that help them understand the importance of sustainability through hands-on demonstrations presented by the Arizona Science Center staff. In the Urban Heat Island demonstration, guests will explore ways to change landscapes to adapt to hot environments and conserve water; the Plarn demonstration, guests learn how to make yarn out of the world's most thrown-out objects; and in the Water Roll demonstration, guests become a sustainability scientist and learn about water conservation. </p><p>There is no cost to attend the event, but RSVPs are strongly encouraged at <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reimagine-phoenix-with-recyclebank-launch-at-the-az-science-center-tickets-1253769057">Eventbrite</a>. </p><p>Recyclebank's rewards program is part of the city's effort to educate the community about recycling more, recycling right and other waste diversion programs. Under the <a href="http://phoenix.gov/reimaginephoenix">Reimagine Phoenix initiative</a>, Phoenix strives to reach its goal of a 40 percent waste diversion rate by 2020 through enhanced solid waste programs, public-private partnerships and expansion of its community and educational outreach. </p></div> | 1/26/2017 7:00:00 AM | |
| Introducing a New Phoenix Green Business Leader - The Farm at South Mountain | 25 | Introducing a New Phoenix Green Business Leader - The Farm at South Mountain | the-farm-at-south-mountain | | <div class="ExternalClass355233FE8D534FE7BE291ABD19F25962"><p>By: Alexis Yaple</p><p><img src="/publicworkssite/MediaAssets/Green%20Business%20Logo-Verticle.png" class="ms-rtePosition-1" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:133px;height:297px;vertical-align:baseline;" />I had once only known <a href="https://www.thefarmatsouthmountain.com/">The Farm at South Mountain</a> as a wedding venue, but I was quickly proven incorrect after my recent visit during a Green Business site survey. Not only does The Farm boast three magnificent eateries, one for each time of the day, but it also specializes in creating dishes from on-site grown produce. Even more fascinating than the delicious artisan food is the process by which this food was grown. The Farm only invests in organically home-grown produce, most of which was fertilized from on-site produced compost or by mulch from its landscaper neighbors. The compost method that The Farm chose, with the help of ASU students, expedites the breakdown of food scraps to about a month's time. Further, The Farm has its own chicken coop of modern-day Arizona native chickens to supply all the eggs for the restaurants. Thus, The Farm is fostering sustainability by bringing people together through its own sustainable local economy.</p><p><img src="/publicworkssite/MediaAssets/The%20Farm.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-2" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:300px;height:229px;vertical-align:baseline;" /><br></p><p><br></p><p>Even more, The Farm challenges itself to compost or recycle everything possible to minimize waste, which makes them the perfect candidate for the <a href="/greenbusiness">Phoenix Green Business Leader Program</a>. In the dining areas, the landfill, recycle and compost bins stand together, but clearly identified to reduce confusion. In observing customers approaching the bins, they would stop, read the signs, and then begin sorting materials as appropriate. Where most businesses would shy away and only provide a landfill bin to avoid any complexities to the customer, The Farm at South Mountain stands out. Their method proves that people will recycle and compost and do it right with the proper signage. They even cleverly state on their bins, "Confused? Throw it in the landfill bin." The purpose of such a sign is to eliminate materials ending up in the wrong bin. Recyclables in the compost bin, or vice versa, can cause many complications, which The Farm cleverly avoids by posting this sign.</p><p><br></p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheFarmAtSouthMountain">The Farm at South Mountain</a> is a leader and model for recycling and composting. Not every business will have the opportunity to compost on-site, but The Farm's forward-thinking is an homage to best sustainable practices that every business should pursue. With all their practices in mind, the Farm was a no-brainer for the Phoenix Green Business program.</p><p><br></p><p><em>About the author: </em></p><p><em>Once a California native, Alexis Yaple now calls Phoenix her home. She moved here almost a decade ago for college with the intention to study meteorology, but inevitably found her true calling in the sustainability field. After graduating in Sustainability at Arizona State University, Alexis worked in the energy efficiency and home performance field until recent when she was hired as a Zero Waste Specialist with the City of Phoenix. Zero Waste is not an unfamiliar topic as her knowledge of the subject extends back to her internship days at Arizona State University where she worked as a Zero Waste Coordinator for the University Sustainability Practices office. In her spare time, she spends quality time with her family; her fiancé and their two dogs, Flash and Maddie.<br></em></p></div> | 2/17/2017 7:00:00 AM | |
| Phoenix Joins Innovators to Reduce Trash | 26 | Phoenix Joins Innovators to Reduce Trash | phoenix-joins-innovators-to-reduce-trash | | <div class="ExternalClassBAC01B57075641548FC1D3B3AB47CC7B"><p><img src="/publicworkssite/MediaAssets/Cisco%20IoT%20Challenge.jpg" class="ms-rteImage-1" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:345px;vertical-align:baseline;" />On Saturday, February 11 the City of Phoenix joined forces with the AZ Institute of Digital Progress (iDP) to provide innovators with problem statements, technology and fuel to development something that will change the Waste Industry's diversion efforts. With the help of a fortune 500 company like Cisco who provided hardware for the reverse pitch and US Ignite who is awarding $20,000 as prize money, Phoenix looks to be an industry leader in technology driven diversion. Have you ever asked yourself how solid waste and technology can co-mingle in the same event?</p><p>See the city has an aggressive goal to divert 40% of its waste stream by the year 2020 and move directly into its next goal of zero waste by 2050. How can it achieve such aggressive goals, well through its residents? The city needs the help of its over 390,000 residential customers to achieve these goals. Residents can ensure they place valuable materials that can be recycled into their weekly collected blue bin. They can also sign up to divert their green waste which the city will use in its new composting facility. When residents divert their green waste, they are essentially giving back to the community. How is that, compost and mulch produced at the City's facility will be repurposed at the city's community parks, to enhance the community.</p><p> How does technology play a role in all of this you ask? Have you ever asked yourself, "I wonder if this is recyclable?" The city is challenging these innovators to build such technology that can help educate residents on what is or is not recyclable. What if the city had video or camera technology that could detect the wrong material in the blue recycling container? This type of technology could aid in focusing the correct educational messages to residents, focus on the material that is confusing and ensure that the recycling is clean from contamination. Did you know that every time a resident contaminates a recycling load, the contaminated material has to be sent to the landfill? Yep, just throwing a few wrong material types into the blue bin that are not recyclable can jam up machines used to sort the good material or cause an entire load to be considered "trash". Through the use of technology certain material types can be identified as not recyclable and flag areas having the highest contamination. This in turn saves the city money by focusing on the most effective education. Instead today, the city has broad and general education that goes to everyone.</p><p>How many times have you been doing things around the house and realized it was your collection day? What if you could, in near real time, check where your collection truck is so you can run your can out to the curb if it hasn't passed your home. Not mention it could save you $10 in a potential fee for having to come back for the missed container. With Cisco's routers these types of solutions can be made possible. Oh and did we mention this is all using Cox Communication's newest Gigabyte technology to increase the speed of the communication?</p><p>Another fun part of these reverse pitch event, is engaging the young inspiring garbage collection children who admire their collection drivers and their massive truck. How fun would it be to have kids collecting garbage on a "Pac-Man" like game that also serves as an educational tool about sustainability and environmental factors associated to diverting material from the waste stream.</p><p>
<img src="/publicworkssite/MediaAssets/Cisco%20Challenge%20crowd.jpg" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:350px;height:263px;" /> <img src="/publicworkssite/MediaAssets/Cisco%20PWD%20reverse%20pitch.jpg" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:350px;height:263px;" /> <img src="/publicworkssite/MediaAssets/Cisco%20Challenge%20Group.jpg" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:350px;height:263px;" /><br></p><p>
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<img src="/publicworkssite/MediaAssets/Lisa%20Faison%20IMG_0355%204x6.jpg" alt="Lisa Faison IMG_0355 4x6.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-1" style="margin:5px;width:170px;height:255px;vertical-align:baseline;" />Lisa Faison has worked in the information technology business for over 15 years as a business analyst and project manager focusing on process improvements. She has been with the city of Phoenix just over two years and prior, worked for the Department of Economic Security with the State of Arizona. She has 20 years of experience working in the government, public sector.</em></div><div>
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<em>Lisa has excelled at working with less by working smarter, not harder. She has implemented streamlined business processes that capitalize on automated solutions and allowed staff to refocus on business processes that cannot be automated. Her solutions increase data integrity and allow big data analysis for timely business decisions and trending of success.</em></div><div>
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<em>With the city of Phoenix, Lisa has implemented Business Intelligence processes that supplement software applications by identifying the less than 1 percent data errors, provide compliance metrics and increase customer service response time. Additionally, she has improved business processes that gained each staff member up to two hours back in their day that was spent on manual actions.</em></div><div>
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<em>Lisa is a wife and mother of three children ages 20, 11 and 5 years. She enjoys gardening with her children, hiking, running and watching her son play baseball.</em></div>
</div> | 2/27/2017 7:00:00 AM | |
| Arizona State University and City of Phoenix launch incubator program | 27 | Arizona State University and City of Phoenix launch incubator program | RISNIncubator | | <div class="ExternalClassD173FBF32FAD4F8A8F6351F21087B2A2"><p></p><table width="100%" class="ms-rteTable-default" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="ms-rteTable-default" style="width:100%;"><p style="text-align:center;"><em>RISN Incubator to help develop a robust circular economy for Arizona and beyond.</em></p><p><strong>TEMPE - </strong>Arizona State University, twice named the most innovative school in the nation by US News and World Report, in collaboration with the City of Phoenix, named the Top Performing City overall by Governing and Living Cities, announce a call for innovators and entrepreneurs to participate in the <a href="http://lists.phoenix.gov/t/1336988/4119508/20151/3/"><span style="text-decoration:underline;">RISN Incubator</span></a>, a diverse solutions business development and accelerator program.</p><p>Selected ventures that focus on waste diversion and improvements in processing or utilization of waste as a raw material for new products or energy will have access to resources and support from ASU and Phoenix to develop new solutions that develop products and services that contribute to the regional development of a vibrant circular economy. Venture concepts eligible for the incubator include, but are not limited to: conversion of solid waste into new material or energy; services that divert, reuse, or recycle; software applications around sustainability (waste, organic material, reuse, recycling); and design services that focus on sustainability.</p><p>"Fostering public-private partnerships, as well as embracing new and innovative ideas, is integral in achieving Phoenix's 40 percent waste diversion goal by 2020," said Ginger Spencer, Phoenix Public Works director. "An incubator, where great minds can get together to grow ideas and find unique solutions, is going to be a critical piece in developing a robust circular economy in our city." </p><p>Through funding provided by the <a href="http://lists.phoenix.gov/t/1336988/4119508/20152/6/"><span style="text-decoration:underline;">U.S. Economic Development Administration's i6 Challenge</span></a> and from support of the <a href="http://lists.phoenix.gov/t/1336988/4119508/20153/9/"><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Resource Innovation and Solutions Network</span></a> (RISN), a public-private network established in partnership between ASU and Phoenix, the RISN Incubator will assist and mentor aspiring new ventures within a wide range of developmental stages.</p><p>The RISN Incubator is accepting applicants who are in the early stages of development. Selected ventures will receive training and services including dedicated venture mentors who will guide their advancement and facilitate access to technical experts, business plan development and investor network management training, access to feedstock from Phoenix's waste transfer station and a process for continuous evaluation and pre-qualification for funding opportunities.</p><p>The priority waste feedstocks that the successful ventures will have access to include plastics, batteries, carpeting and carpet foam, broken furniture, mattresses, textiles, food waste, compost and plastic film. Innovators may also respond to an open call for other materials or items in the waste stream.</p><p>"ASU identifies innovation and the support of new ventures as essential to the development of a strong economy at local, regional and global scales," said Ji Mi Choi, associate vice president of ASU's Knowledge Enterprise Development, leading Entrepreneurship + Innovation which includes the new RISN Incubator. "Between the expertise at ASU and the material and practice resources at the city of Phoenix, we are excited to work with the ventures that will be creating exciting new solutions to our waste and energy challenges."</p><p>Joining ASU to lead the RISN Incubator as its director is Alicia Marseille. Alicia brings a wealth of start-up and economic development experience from her recent position as director of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Women's Business Center, AWEEc. Alicia will apply her decade of national and international background in public/private partnerships, emerging markets, growth strategies and financial modeling to the RISN Incubator's development.</p><p>This call for innovators and entrepreneurs is open until July 24 with the challenge kicking off August 25.</p><p>For more information including the application, visit <a href="http://lists.phoenix.gov/t/1336988/4119508/20151/10/"><span style="text-decoration:underline;">RISNincubator.asu.edu</span></a>.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div> | 6/14/2017 7:00:00 AM | RISNincubator.asu.edu |
