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Spring 2021
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Inside This Issue
Our 2020 Award Winners  |  Welcome New Members! 
Two Rain Gardens Installed at New Locations |  NextCycle Michigan & Funding |  Webinar Recommendations |  Volunteer Opportunities  |  Events & Conferences
Spotlight
2020 Environmental Excellence Award Winners

Stay tuned for an upcoming special issue honoring our 2020 Environmental Excellence Award Winners
 
Pollution Prevention
Convenience Auto Service

Water Quality Protection
Arbor Brewing Company

Waste Reduction and Recycling
Fjällräven Ann Arbor

Leadership in Environmental Excellence
Shannan Gibb-Randall
In Case You Missed it...
Webinar Recommendations



Growing Native Plants for Butterflies
 
Author Brenda Dziedzic presented on the necessary components of a garden for butterflies and moths. Select plants to encourage and support Monarchs, Giant Swallowtails, Cecropias, and Lunas in your landscape. 

View the webinar on YouTube

 
EGLE Sustainability Series Webinars
 
EGLE has over 20 options of hour-long webinars to watch anytime you’d like! From energy reduction to B-corps to environmental preferable purchasing (EPP), there’s bound to be something you can learn. For organizations looking to build sustainability into their organizational culture, we highly recommend “Creating A Culture of Sustainability,” presented by Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids and recorded on 3/17/2016.

View the Sustainability Series Webinars
 Opportunities for Partners

Stormwater Bill Credit
Get the credit your business deserves!  If your business is in the City of Ann Arbor and is a member of Community Partners for Clean Streams – you can request a credit on your stormwater bill.  Save some money and keep our waterways clean.  Find out more here.

CPCS Mini-Sponsorship Program
Community Partners for Clean Streams members are eligible to apply for a mini-sponsorship to support a project that helps improve water quality. Awards are typically around $1,000.  In the past, projects have included building rain gardens, restoring old rain gardens, planting a native plant shoreline, and more! Applications due by April 15th, winners announced May 1st. 
Mini-Sponsorship Application and Additional Information

 
Rain Garden Design Assistance
If you are a Community Partners for Clean Streams member, we can offer technical help by designing a rain garden or native plant garden for your business or organization. We’ll work with you to select a site and then will create a design and supply list that matches your needs
 
School and Community Habitat Grant
The Washtenaw County Conservation Distric School and Community Habitat Grant is designed to assist schools and community organizations through plant access and establishing wildlife habitat. Grants will be awarded as tree, shrub, native plant material through the WCCD distributions and technical assistance from WCCD and partners. Grant availability is dependent on donations made to the WCCD for this purpose and grant selections and awards will be made based on the amount.

 
Welcome 
New  E2P2 Members!
Waste Knot & Community Partners for Clean Streams
 
The U School - Ann Arbor
This Ann Arbor preschool built a rain garden, planted native plants, and continues to remove invasive species on their property. They plan to build a second rain garden to capture stormwater runoff before it ends up in the storm drain. This second rain garden will be full of native plants that can be incorporated into activities with the students. Waste reduction and reuse are part of their educational and operational activities – students use lots of recycled parts in art projects and staff use reusable rags and mops for cleaning. In addition, everything that can’t be reused or recycled is disposed of properly and care is given to keep the nearby storm drain clear.
 
Community Partners for Clean Streams (CPCS)
 
Ypsilanti District Library
Bioswales and stormwater basins already capture most of the water that lands on the library property, but staff want to build a rain garden that can be used as a teaching tool for children’s programs. Vehicles like the Book Mobile are regularly checked and maintained to avoid any leaks that could end up washing into the storm drain. Lawns are mowed as high as possible so more rainwater can be absorbed by the grass and its roots.
 
Waste Knot (WK)
 
Voltek Hybrid and Electric Repair
Voltek is a car repair shop for hybrid and electric vehicles committed to sustainability and helping make hybrid and electric car ownership practical and affordable. They not only collect high voltage batteries for recycling, but also repair, refurbish, and rebuild car parts to reduce the overall amount of waste produced in car repair. They have partnerships with non-profits and robotics teams to donate spare parts and electric components. Furthermore, Voltek is heavily involved in a battery recycling workgroup to raise awareness about battery recycling and make a difference in the industry.
 
What is E2P2?
 
All members of Waste Knot and Community Partners for Clean Streams are automatically part of E2P2, which collaborates with the County's Pollution Prevention Program to recognize & reward Washtenaw County's environmental business leaders.

In the News...
 

17-Year Cicadas to Emerge

Though it might seem pretty cold in Michigan now, spring will soon be upon us, bringing with it cicadas from the largest brood in the United States. Read more at michiganradio.org.

Proper Medication Disposal is Environmental Protection
Some pharmacies and other locations across Washtenaw County can take medications and medical sharps back for proper disposal. This is the safest option to remove unwanted or expired medications from our homes, and it keeps our families, essential workers, and environment safe. Visit our interactive map at DontFlushDrugs.com to find your closest medication take-back location.
New Rain Gardens Installed at Two Locations
Two new public rain gardens were built in Fall 2020 - Carpenter Road (above, left), and the Ypsilanti CommUNITY Skatepark (above, right). 
 

Through a project with the Road Commission, a roadside rain garden was built in front of Home Depot on Carpenter Rd. Located between the road and the sidewalk, dirty rain runoff flows into the rain garden where it can be filtered clean. Rain that lands on the road will pick up oil, brake dust and other pollutants that come from cars. Usually this runoff will wash into storm drains where it ends up flowing into nearby creeks, untreated.

By directing the rain into a rain garden, the pollutants are captured in a deep sediment trap. Within this 2-foot deep sediment trap, the water has a chance to slow down. When water is still, pollutants will drop out of the water and settle into the bottom of the sediment trap. The cleaner water then slowly enters the rain garden and soaks into the ground where it is naturally filtered to be even cleaner. 

A second rain garden was built at the newly constructed Ypsilanti CommUNITY Skatepark. This project was done in collaboration with Ypsilanti Township, Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation and the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner. The skatepark was completed with a grant from the Built to Play Skatepark Grant, funded jointly by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and The Skatepark Project (formerly the Tony Hawk Foundation) and the rain garden was funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. All stormwater that falls on the skatepark is directed into a rain garden.
Read more about the new skatepark here.

NextCycle Michigan and
Waste Reduction Sponsorships
Our recent Waste Knot partner survey returned some great results and we are continuing to comb through them. One insight was that funding is the most limiting factor for implementing sustainability initiatives and reaching your goals.  There are a few options to help you with funding coming down the pipeline this year!
NextCycle Michigan is a Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) initiative driving innovation and connecting funding to ideas that will improve material recovery and recycled-content manufacturing in Michigan. If you have ideas for recycling, composting, and recycled-content manufacturing expansion in Michigan, now is a great time to get started. The program includes six core Innovation Challenge tracks related to Michigan’s recycled materials supply chain and end markets.

Three funding opportunities to fit your needs - 

NextCycle Michigan
The MICROS track is designed for businesses, entrepreneurs, universities, local units of government, or non-profits who need access to small funding amounts to jumpstart or expand their recycling programs and/or businesses within the state of Michigan.  The application period for the NextCycle Michigan MICROS Innovation Challenge Track opens March 31, 2021.  Find out how to get involved or register for the 3/31 webinar to learn more.

NextCycle Michigan and Waste Reduction Sponsorship Partnership
For NextCycle projects investing in Washtenaw County, the Washtenaw County Board of Public Works passed a resolution allocating up to $50,000 in sponsorships per year for five years to NextCycle Michigan teams. The resolution allocates funds from the Solid Waste Reduction Sponsorships (washtenaw.org/sponsorships) approved by the Board of Public Works in 2019 to provide matching funds for Washtenaw County organizations that reduce, divert, or educate about waste.
 

Waste Reduction Sponsorships
We’re continuing to accept sponsorship applications for initiatives that don’t go through NextCycle too – find out more at washtenaw.org/sponsorships. Waste Reduction Sponsorships provide funding for Washtenaw County organizations to complete projects and initiatives that reduce, divert, or educate about waste. Let us help you get over the start-up cost hurdle! Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Deadlines apply for higher requests. Click here for the application and more information. 
Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities

Saturday, April 17th 
Spring Bug Hunt | Friends of the Rouge

Have some fun and help Friends of the Rouge assess the health of the Rouge River by joining a team of volunteers to search for critters in the streambed. 
Registration required by April 3rd. 

Ongoing
Adopt-A-Stormdrain | Huron River Watershed Council

Storm drains are underground pipes that carry unfiltered rainwater, melting snow and pollution directly into our rivers, lakes and drinking water. Learn how to care for your curbside storm drain and help your community by volunteering with the Huron River Watershed Council's Adopt-A-Stormdrain program to help keep our lakes, rivers, and streams free of runoff pollution. Sign up today!
Upcoming Events

April

Michigan Safety Conference | April 13-14, Virtual
The Michigan Safety Conference is a volunteer organization dedicated to promoting the improvement of workplace safety and health practices in the State of Michigan. The annual event provides participants with quality workplace health and safety education.
2,200 Attendees * 120 + Classes * 245 Exhibits * Live Demonstrations 
Get more information or sign up here.

Michigan Recycling Coalition Virtual Conference | FREE
April 20 to May 13, Various Times
With many thanks to Conference Sponsors, the MRC is able to offer April and May virtual Conference programming to anyone who's interested, free of charge! Conference presentations are spread out into three 90-minute sessions each week for four weeks. Presentations start on April 20th and culminate in a keynote speaker on May 13th.
Click here for registration and more information.

MI Watershed Summit | FREE and Virtual
April 20-29, Various Times

This webinar series is hosted by Michigan Water Environment Association and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy
Registration required, click here to register.

Ann Arbor Earth Day Festival
The Ann Arbor Earth Day committee is planning a variety of ways to engage and learn - stay alert for more information soon!

May

Huron River Day | Ongoing, entire month
The Huron River will be celebrated every day in May with fun exhibits, hikes and activities up and down parks and trails on the river.  Due to the pandemic we will not be having a one day Huron River Day but instead have activities available throughout the 2021 spring and summer season. Look for information on how to participate in the Huron River Day fun beginning in May at A2gov.org/HRD.

June

Native Plant Expo & Marketplace| Washtenaw County Conservation District
Saturday, June 5th | 9-1, Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds

The Native Plant Expo & Marketplace offers one convenient location to shop for Michigan native plants from several Michigan native plant growers, learn how to establish and maintain native landscapes and connect with companies specializing in planning native landscapes. Pre-order plants online by April 30, 2021. Click here for more information.  
 
Michigan Sustainability Conference| Virtual, June 2-4
Held virtually in partnership with Michigan Green Communities, MISCON is Michigan’s one of a kind event for transforming social and environmental sustainability. Attendees will include business and community leaders looking to gain the tools they need to move from traditional procedures to best practices using science, technology, storytelling, and partnerships to meet the underlying demand for social and environmental sustainability. Find out more here.
Partners in the News

Do you have a success story to share? Did your organization just start a new environmental, recycling or pollution prevention program and want a place to promote it? Share it with us at e2p2@washtenaw.org and you may see it on CTN, WEMU, on our Facebook page or in an upcoming newsletter. 
Thank you for everything you do to keep our environment and rivers clean!
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