RiverCentre and the Xcel Energy Center share a campus and a problem. It's a problem familiar to hosts the world over � cleaning up after the party.
Last year the two city-owned, privately-managed facilities were recycling just 15 percent of the stuff that guests left behind after events. And they must pay combined state and local taxes of 75 percent on what gets hauled away as waste.
Enter the husband-and-wife team of Patrick and Christina Reeves, who moved from Washington State to help the X and RiverCentre tackle their trash problem. The Reeves' small business,
Progressive Associates, Inc., gets big buildings on track to operate more sustainably. (Another nearby client is the Science Museum of Minnesota.)
Touting the pursuit of achievable and measurable goals as the way to go, the Reeves set to work assessing the facilities' situations and systems. Twin aims emerged: recycle 50 percent of the waste annually, and reduce waste by 50 percent.
They're already close. In the first quarter of 2010, the recycling rate hit 45 percent, with an all-time high in February of 53 percent. "April looks like it's going to be the best month yet," Patrick Reeves says.
So far, he figures the recycling campaign has diverted 900,000 pounds of trash from the waste stream, and it's saving $17,000 on monthly bills from trash haulers.
While the two 50-percent goals could be reached within the first three years of the effort, the sustainability work is really just getting started. Next up: carbon-footprint reduction.
Source: Patrick Reeves, Progressive Associates, Inc.
Writer: Chris Steller