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November 2016

In This Issue

Upcoming Events


Recycling Cooking Oil
Nov. 26 @ 7 a.m.-5 p.m.
1068 Quail St.

Holiday Lights Recycling
Nov. 25 - Jan. 15
1068 Quail St.

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Farewell Madeline!

With a mix of sadness and excitement, we bid farewell to Madeline Keating. Over the past year, Madeline has brought creativity and positive energy to the Sustainability Neighborhoods Program.

Madeline has accepted a position with the National Resources Defense Council, a non-profit organization pursuing the preservation of our planet's resources. We wish Madeline the best of luck as she continues her positive impact in the field sustainability!
The City of Lakewood is committed to the Compact of Mayors to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our resilience to climate change.
 
Community News

Another Successful Leaf Collection Event for Southern Gables

Christy Cerrone, Southern Gables Sustainable Neighborhood
 
Sustainable Southern Gables and the Southern Gables Homeowner’s Association coordinated the neighborhood’s third annual Leaf Collection Day this past weekend and it was a huge success!  
  • 58 neighbors dropped off at least 816 bags of leaves to be composted.  
  • 108 volunteers raked lawns for 26 seniors and collected another 200 bags of leaves to compost.  
  • Volunteers stomped all of those leaves into two 30-foot roll-off compost dumpsters.  
  • 96 bags of leaves were donated to the non-profit organization Micro Farms to use on their urban farms.
  • We don’t have the weights yet from Alpine Waste and Recycling, but we estimate that we composted at least nine tons of leaves that would have otherwise been sent to the landfill!
The neighbors and volunteers had a great day together and look forward to doing it again next year.  

If you’d like to hear tips and tricks on coordinating your own neighborhood leaf collection day, please email SustainableNeighborhoods@Lakewood.org to be connected with the leaders from Sustainable Southern Gables.

Recycle Your Used Cooking Oil

Thanksgiving often means lots of family, lots of friends and lots of cooking! Recycle your waste cooking oil during this once-a-year event for Lakewood residents, to help divert it from the landfill and municipal sewer systems. Used cooking oil is recycled into locally produced and used biodiesel.

Bring your cooking oil to Quail Street Recycling Center at 1068 Quail St. on Saturday, Nov. 26 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
 

Sustainable Neighborhoods Learn about Solar Thermal Heating

By Carrie Sonneborn, Eiber Sustainable Neighborhood
 
The joint Eiber and South of 6th October Resilience Circle featured a presentation about solar thermal heating by a local solar thermal company. Did you know that while solar electricity can cover the electric portion of your utility bill, this is only about 25% of utility costs for most homes? Residents learned about how solar thermal heating (of your water and space heating of your house) takes care of the other 75% while reducing dependence on "fracked" natural gas, while saving money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The group in attendance is now eager to continue exploring how we can make Lakewood greener by growing solar thermal in the community. 
 
City Updates

Sustainability Plan Recognized by Colorado Planners

The American Planning Association Colorado Chapter awarded Lakewood's Sustainability Plan with the 2016 APA Colorado Merit Award in the category of Sustainability/Environmental Planning. The award recognized the Sustainability Plan as a strong example of community involvement during the planning process.
 

Lakewood Participates in Sustainability Measurement Pilot

Communities across the country are developing sustainability goals that are unique to their community. But how do we compare our progress to others? How can we work with other communities to improve access to national and regional data?

This year, the City of Lakewood helped the STAR Communities program to launch the Leading STAR Community Indicators pilot, which identified 21 sustainability metrics that are commonly important and obtainable. Participating communities benchmark annual performance and compare progress with other participating communities through an online dashboard.

You can see Lakewood's profile on the STAR Communities website.
 
Sustainability Concepts

Food Waste

By Emily Alvarez, sustainability intern
The fate of our leftover food is usually decided on the spot, as we are cleaning up the kitchen and clearing the table. Most of us wind up throwing out more food than we do plastic, paper, metal or glass. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 33 million tons of food finds its way into our landfills annually. The food that winds up in the landfills breaks down anaerobically and produces methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that is estimated to be about 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and makes up about 16 percent of global GHG emissions. Every ton of food in a landfill is estimated to result in almost four tons of GHG emissions.  

So how do we keep food out of our landfills? Home and workplace composting are great places to start. Additionally, restaurants and grocery stores are now teaming up with food rescue organizations to help redistribute food that is still edible to food banks and the homeless. As the holiday season draws nearer, consider these tips to reduce your at-home food waste: 
  • Plan recipes for your gatherings that fit together. That is, if your ham recipe calls for one and half onions, find a side dish or gravy recipe that can use the other half. 
  • Make stock with your bones, trimmings and peelings. 
  • Decide what to do with your leftovers early on by finding recipes for meals that can be made with a leftover or two. 
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