2003 Award Winners

		The price of greatness is responsibility.
	—Sir Winston Churchill
	2003 Winners booklet (500Kb)

These recipients of the Governor's Awards have responded to environmental challenges with innovative programs that demonstrate that environmental protection goes hand-in-hand with economic benefits.

Winners also illustrate the cooperative spirit that is integral to Minnesota's pollution prevention efforts. Through forging new partnerships with employees, government agencies and others, award recipients provide excellent case studies of successful efforts to bridge our state's environmental and economic goals.

• Center for Energy and Environment
• City of St. Cloud
• Dakota County and Independent School District 196
• Hutchinson Technology Incorporated
• Ramsey County Property Management
• Ridgeview Medical Center

Project:	One-Stop Efficiency Shop Lighting Retrofit Program
Benefits to the environment:	Reducing electricity consumption prevents additional emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases: CO2, SOx, NOx, mercury, and particulate matter. Captured a total 2,418 kW in energy savings in 2002, exceeding the original goal by over 50%. Since the program’s inception in 2000, 476 businesses have completed a retrofit, with savings of 4,453 kW and 15,860,909 kWh.
Savings:	One-Stop customers have received almost $1.6 million in Xcel energy rebates. In 2002, the average rebate was $3,300. After project costs are recovered, One-Stop participants will annually save almost $2,000 for as long as the equipment remains in place.

Approved in 2000, the One-Stop Efficiency Shop (One-Stop) is an innovative, full-service lighting retrofit program designed to save energy in the hard-to-sell small business sector. Sponsored by Xcel Energy and administered by the Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) in Xcel's Minnesota service territory, One-Stop targets small businesses with a 10 to 200 kW demand. This sector accounts for 29% of Xcel Energy's total energy sales in Minnesota. Of the end-uses in this sector, lighting accounts for 40% of energy use, and therefore offers the greatest opportunity to reduce energy use.

Small businesses are difficult to serve with traditional lighting rebate programs; they have limited financial resources, time, knowledge of lighting products, and access to quality contractors. One-Stop is structured specifically to address these needs and concerns. The program offers qualified business owners a free, no-obligation audit, lighting rebates, and below-market-rate financing that is paid on the owner's utility bill. The loan payments are structured to match the owner's monthly savings so that a neutral cash flow is maintained. Because One-Stop does not sell lighting products, auditors are able to offer customers unbiased recommendations. Thanks to collaboration with local electrical contractors, One-Stop is also able to offer standard program pricing and a pool of qualified contractors to eliminate the hassle of collecting bids. This combination of services brings the customer educational and financial resources with a minimal time commitment.

In 2002, One-Stop exceeded its goal of 1,600 kW saved by 50%, with submitted rebates for 2,418 kW.

Project Name:	The City of St. Cloud Phosphorus Management Plan
Benefits to the environment:	The plan prevented and controlled the use of phosphorus in the service area, thus reducing the amount that has to be removed from wastewater. Specifically, the PMP reduced the amount of phosphorus coming into the facility by 32% and reduced the amount of phosphorus leaving the facility by 48%. Total suspended solids and carboneous biochemical demand has been removed with effectiveness of 95% or greater in an environmentally safe manner. City ordinances and local codes were modified and updated to include specific phosphorus-related language.

To avoid the use of costly, harsh treatment chemicals, the St. Cloud Wastewater Treatment Facility developed and implemented a successful Phosphorus Management Plan (PMP) to reduce the amount of phosphorus that enters the Mississippi River. The PMP accomplished this by using biological treatment, working with their large industrial permit holders to eliminate phosphorus, and education and outreach to commercial businesses and residents. By optimizing the existing biological phosphorus removal process and working with residential, industrial, and commercial contributors of phosphorus, the city of St. Cloud has proved that there is an environmentally friendly way to significantly reduce phosphorus in treated wastewater discharge. Through these combined efforts, the city was able to simultaneously reduce the amounts of phosphorus coming into the facility (influent) by 32% and leaving the facility (effluent) by 48%.

By implementing the Phosphorus Management Plan, the city of St. Cloud saved a substantial amount of money. Chemical extraction of phosphorus would have required over $3 million in capital costs for extensive reconstruction to the current facility, as well as $800,000 in annual operating costs. In addition, chemical extraction would have produced over 20 million gallons of chemical-laden sludge that would require disposal. In contrast, the city’s Phosphorus Management Plan was executed with current staff and few additional resources.

Project Name:	Independent School District 196 Organic Separation and Compost Project
Benefits to the environment:	Approximately 800 tons of waste were source separated by students and faculty and diverted for composting. The nutrient-rich compost enhances the soil conditions of the athletic fields that are sited on poor, sandy soils; it also reduces the amount of fertilizer and irrigation needed to maintain the turf.This saves money, improves water quality, and conserves water. Improved waste sorting helped schools in the district increase the recycling rate for plastic bottles and paper by as much as 500%.
Educational benefits:	The educational benefits of the project have been substantial. Through the district’s communications, a large number of people has been exposed to the concept of composting. The district has a total population of 135,532 people and 32,329 households. A recent survey in the district documented that the majority of students and staff had increased awareness of environmental issues overall as a result of the compost project. Results also showed that students have learned how their actions can make a change to the environment. Teachers and students worked together to develop and produce an 11-minute video and web site that describes the compost project. The video has been shown at other schools as an educational tool, with plans to initiate regular scheduling on the local public access channel. The project has also been highlighted on the local television program, Environmental Journal.

Independent School District 196 (Rosemount-Eagan-Apple Valley, in Dakota County) generates approximately eight tons of waste per day, 77% of which by weight is organic and compostable. Recognizing the high percentage of compostable waste, the fourth-largest district in Minnesota developed and implemented a composting project for the entire district’s non-recyclable organic solid waste. This district-wide project, which engaged all 28,500 students and 4,000 faculty, is the largest of its kind in Minnesota. Funded by a grant from the metropolitan Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board, project participants included 30 schools (5 high schools, 6 middle schools, 18 elementary schools, and one special education school), NRG Processing Solutions (composting facility), Minnesota Waste Wise (environmental nonprofit), Dakota County, and BFI Waste Systems (waste hauler).

With assistance from Dakota County and Minnesota Waste Wise, each school set up a collection infrastructure in the cafeterias to separate compostable waste from non-compostable waste. Students learned to sort and place their waste into the appropriate bins as they exited the cafeteria, with assistance from volunteer monitors, colorful signs with pictures, and labels. The compostable waste was then delivered to the composting facility, further sorted to remove any remaining non-compostables, and converted into a rich, organic soil amendment that was sold back to the school district. The non-compostable waste went to a resource recovery facility for processing into refuse-derived fuel and burned for power (to replace the use of coal).

Financially, the district saved on disposal costs by sending the waste to the compost facility. The project also offers continuing environmental education benefits at all levels within the school system. The project was initially piloted for the 2002-2003 school year; the district plans to continue it as a permanent, sustainable project.

Hutchinson Technology Incorporated

Project name:	Pollution Prevention for Coating of Thin Metal Surfaces
Benefits to the environment:	100% reduction of the use of butyl carbitol in the roller coater operations. This is an 82% facility-wide reduction for the use of this SARA Title 313 (TRI) reportable chemical. 100% reduction in use of monoethanolamine (MEA), a watersoluble organic solvent, in roller coater operations. 100% reduction in MEA use in all photoresist stripping operations. 100% reduction in three hazardous air pollutant emissions (xylene, toluene, and butyl carbitol) from all photoresist operations. This constitutes a 78% reduction of these emissions facility wide. 80% reduction of stripper chemical handling inside the plant, which increases employee safety. Total annual reduction of over 245,000 pounds of MEA and butyl carbitol sent to the Hutchinson Wastewater Treatment Facility. Significant reduction of shipments per year of hazardous chemicals, resulting in less truck traffic on highways and reduced risk of public exposure.
Savings:	46% reduction in annual chemical costs for roller coating operations. $113,000 reduction in annual waste treatment costs. $3,500 annual savings in regulatory assessments: MPCA VOC and Hazardous Waste fees, Minnesota Emergency Response Commission fee, and Minnesota Pollution Prevention fee. Payback period of just 1.2 years.

Hutchinson Technology Inc. (HTI) is the world’s leading manufacturer of suspension assembly units used in hard disk drives (memory storage units). HTI continually evolves its manufacturing processes to adapt to the rapidly changing hard disk market. HTI has a strong commitment to the protection of the environment and to the safety of their employees. They designed a pollution prevention project for coating thin metal surfaces to reduce surface contamination of their metal suspension assemblies and reduce chemical use through an innovative coating and chemical stripping process.

The project was initiated by process design engineers at the Hutchinson, Minnesota, facility to improve production functions of the suspension assemblies. Before this project, the thin metal part surfaces experienced some contamination with residual photoresist (coating used in production) despite intensive use of chemicals and water. The key environmental objective was to reduce the use of chemicals, including solutions containing TRI and hazardous air pollutants. The change in process involved two main components: new photoresist composition and new photoresist stripping chemistry. The changes resulted in less chemical waste during solution bath changes, fewer air emissions of VOCs and hazardous air pollutants, and fewer pollutants discharged in wastewater. The economic benefits include improved product yield, cost-savings on chemical/waste treatment, and a two-year return on investment. Ultimately, the implementation of this project saves HTI approximately $277,000 per year.

Project name:	Ramsey County TCAAP Building No. 576 Deconstruction
Organizations involved:	Ramsey County Property Management
Benefits to the environment:	Reused timbers, flooring, and electrical components, which minimized the need to harvest natural resources and manufacture these products. Recycled wood components for fuel, scrap metal into new products, and concrete into new base material. Reduced the amount of time it takes to demolish/deconstruct a building, thus saving hundreds of labor and machine hours as well as environmental resources.

In order to build a new Ramsey County Public Works facility in Arden Hills, the county needed to remove Building No. 576, a 1940s era ammunitions building located on a portion of the Twin Cities Army Ammunitions Plant. Rather than demolish the 600,000 square-foot structure in a conventional way, the county offered contractors the specifications to bid on standard demolition or deconstruction with a goal of recycling or reusing 80% of the building.

The awarded contractor, Veit Companies, working closely with Ramsey County, partnered with several local and out-of-state firms (Duluth Timber, All-Wood Products, EMSCO, American Iron, and the Green Institute) to achieve the waste reduction goal. Not only was the goal met, it was exceeded; 87% of the building materials were reused or recycled, leaving only 13% to be removed to the landfill. Most importantly, end markets have been identified for all of the reused/recycled building materials. In addition, the project saved Ramsey County taxpayers money. Veit Companies’ $183,109 bid for deconstruction was significantly lower than competing bids as high as $737,630 for standard demolition with some recycling.

Project Name:	Ridgeview Medical Center’s Sustainable Mission
Benefits to the environment:	Ridgeview participates in an ongoing third-class mail reduction campaign to reduce needless mail, duplicate mail, and mail that could be shared (routed) by other individuals. Adopted a construction management plan, which addresses the following sustainable concepts during planning phases: material reduction, reusable materials, recycling, toxicity reduction, and protection of green space. The Nutrition Services Department offers “take home” meals for staff, using leftovers. This program has helped reduce the amount of solid waste sent to landfills and also reduced the suspended solids in the wastewater. Sponsored a Residential Mercury Thermometer Exchange Program, which offered a free electronic thermometer in exchange for a mercury thermometer at clinics throughout Carver, McCleod, and Wright Counties. Contracted with a local waste hauler that rewards, rather than penalizes, recycling efforts. The hauler is also responsible for touring and making recommendations to Ridgeview about their collection habits in order to increase recycling. Adopted an Asset Management Plan that recycles used equipment and furnishings to other businesses, staff, charitable organizations, or developing nations. Seeking alternative products to replace in-house products that contain chemicals identified as toxic by Hospitals for a Healthy Environment. In addition, Ridgeview has modified its purchasing policies to avoid, whenever possible, products containing toxic chemicals or mercury. Minimized chemotherapy waste by purchasing the smallest vial size available. Obtained mercury-free status. Saves water, as well as sewer and water costs, by reusing condensed water from the cooling coil and pumping it back into the cooling tower.

In May 2001, Ridgeview Medical Center changed its mission to become sustainable to improve community health. To implement the mission, Ridgeview Medical Center employed Major Environmental Solutions and Sustainability Associates to perform an eco-audit to identify challenges and opportunities in and around Ridgeview. The eco-audit examined the following:

• Energy use and conservation
• Water use and conservation
• Environmental regulatory compliance and management systems
• Material use and conservation
• Transportation
• Solid waste and pollution prevention; reduction, reuse, recycling, and disposal
• Emissions to air and water
• Design for the Environment
• Assessment of major suppliers

By understanding sustainable practices, Ridgeview Medical Center adopted an Environmental Awareness Pledge into the organization’s culture and built support for the program at the staff level. It covers the main Ridgeview campus, as well as the other 22 properties operated under Ridgeview’s umbrella. The pledge includes a commitment to reduce waste and the use of resources and toxic chemicals, while still performing as a leading health care provider. More specifically, the pledge includes plans for the virtual elimination of mercury from the workplace and goals for a 33% reduction of waste by 2005 and an overall reduction of 50% by 2010. In addition, Ridgeview Medical Center became a formal member of Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, which further strengthened Ridgeview’s commitment to sustainability.

November 2003

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