Earth Day Kudos
The walls and the roof will go up on Maharishi University of Management's new Sustainable Living Center on Earth Day, Thursday April 22. This building that will set a new standard for green building in America by being completely off the grid with respect to electricity, heating and cooling, water, and waste.
The Sustainable Living Center has been designed to meet the Living Building Challenge, the highest standard for sustainable design and green building in the world. It will be one of the first three to achieve this. And it will be unique because it will be the first to combine that standard with the standards of LEED Platinum certification, Building Biology, and Maharishi Vedic Architecture.
Harper Brush is celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day by encouraging its employees to bring in their old computer equipment to be recycled. Over 200 million pieces of computer equipment are disposed of each year. Less than 20% are recycled. Even more unused computer equipment is stored in an estimated 68% of consumer's homes awaiting disposal. All of this adds up to millions of pounds of computer equipment in landfills.
The company is currently entering its second year of a successful launch of Eco Friendly cleaning tools. This line of products (mops, pushbrooms, angle broom, dustpan, utility brushes, cleaning cloth) is constructed with post-industrial and post-consumer waste.
MidWestOne Bank is hosting Community Shred Days through Saturday. The public can bring up to three grocery bags full of paper to be shredded and recycled for free.