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Green Team Report #1

Welcome to Sustainability Report- A quarterly newsletter from the Focal Pointe Green Team. 

 

Focal Pointe has registered for the St. Louis Green Business Challenge again for 2021. This quarterly newsletter is part of our Green Business Challenge effort for 2021. Our intention is to inform, educate and engage more of our team members. We will use this forum to update you on the Green Team’s activities and invite you to join us in activities that will support sustainability in our work, our homes, and our communities.

St. Louis Green Business Challenge logo

The St. Louis Green Business Challenge, a program of the Missouri Botanical Gardendelivers “Triple-Bottom” Line results (financial, social, and environmental) to businesses of all types and sizes across the St. Louis region. The Challenge supports integration of sustainability measures into the kinds of everyday operational practices common to every business.  Participants identify and adapt the strategies that improve financial performance and engage employees in voluntary measures to reduce environmental impacts.

Since the program launched in 2010, 245 businesses, non-profits and municipalities have joined the Challenge. This participation has engaged over 155,000 employees and nearly 470,000 residents for a total of over 620,000 individuals influenced by this work. Ongoing sustainability commitment is strong: 60% of these companies have participated in the challenge for two or more years, 45% for three years or more.


Help the Focal Pointe team recycle responsibly at work and at home.

No Bags in Bins, Please

Below is a list of common workplace items that can and cannot go in the single-stream recycling bin.

Common workplace recyclables include:

  • Paper (e.g. copy/printer paper, newspaper, brochures, magazines)
  • Cardboard (e.g. boxes–copy paper, office supplies)
  • Beverage containers (e.g. plastic and glass bottles and cans)
  • Electronics (e.g. computers, cell phones rechargeable batteries, printer cartridges)

Common non-recyclables include:

  • Plastic bags/film/wrap
  • Scrap metal

Recycling facilities shut down for hours when plastic bags jam machinery.  These malfunctions and unwanted items also put workers at risk for injuries. Help us recycle responsibly by keeping these out of our single-stream recycling bin. For more tips on what can and can’t be recycled at home click on one of the images below to download a PDF from St. Louis City. Check your local government websites for details specific to your community.

Other community recycling websites: Bellville,  Collinsville, Columbia, Edwardsville, Fairview Heights, O’Fallon

Members of the Green Team recently delivered two pallets (887 pounds) of Christmas lights to a recycling facility in Fairmont City. The lights were from Mercy Hospital and a few residential locations. These lights will not find their way to a landfill!


Focal Pointe Stream Teams

Focal Pointe Green Team will be collaborating with the Focal Pointe Family Foundation to participate in the Missouri Steam Team program.  We will be creating a team for our efforts appropriately named, Focal Pointe Stream Team!  Per discussion, during the Family Foundation meeting, we will plan to mobilize our team to participate in an activity, to be announced, in late spring/early summer.  Our thought is to do a honeysuckle hack, in lieu of trash clean-up for safety reasons.  During our March 3rd meeting, we started brainstorming on some high-visibility honeysuckle hacks.  We have a couple great ideas for this activity but also want your ideas (email goinggreen@yourfocalpointes.com.)  We will work towards a plan to best focus our efforts.  We are looking forward to a productive hack!  For more information on Missouri’s Stream Team program see http://www.mostreamteam.org/


We encourage all employees to consider how the company can operate in more sustainable ways and how we can have a positive impact on the sustainability of our communities. Please send your green thoughts and questions to goinggreen@yourfocalpointe.com.


How to get started with sustainabilityLandscape Management, February 3, 2021