bridging the gap blog

  When it comes to saving energy, Fire Station No. 35 doused the four other Kansas City, Missouri, fire houses participating in the national Battle of the Buildings competition to reduce energy usage last fall. Hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the program compared data collected during September, October and December of 2015 and … Continued

  Posty Cards’ Subsidized LED Replacement Bulb Program for Employees Posty Cards, a family-owned manufacturer of business greeting cards located in Kansas City, Missouri, has a well-established history of doing things in the most sustainable way possible. From its renovated LEED Platinum manufacturing facility and office space to it zero-waste-to-landfill program, the innovative company has led … Continued

UMKC, an urban university nestled in the heart of Kansas City’s urban core, sees sustainability as a vital component to the quality of life it provides to its students, faculty and the community at large. Thinking outside the box, UMKC is utilizing occupancy sensors to control not only lighting but HVAC as well. The school … Continued

NOR-AM is a full-service, public refrigerated warehouse located in St. Joseph. With freezers that can run as cold as 20 degrees below Fahrenheit, you can imagine that the energy input required to maintain a constant temperature-controlled setting is critical to their business. NOR-AM, however, strives to operate in the most energy efficient way possible. The … Continued

General Mills, a flour manufacturing facility located in the East River Bottoms Area with 150 employees, has been institutionalizing solid waste reduction into its operations for the past 10 years. In that timeframe, the facility has reduced the amount of waste it sends to the landfill by more than 70%, resulting in an average reduction … Continued

When Shawnee Mission Medical Center decided to create a green team in 2007, surgical nurse Jen Ogden was excited. Jen was distraught by the amount of blue wrap – a material used to cover sterilized surgical instruments – that was thrown away each day at the hospital and was determined to find a solution for … Continued

  Don’t Throw That Away! Hallmark’s Goal for Zero-Waste To Landfill Hallmark Cards, Inc. launched a pilot project in July 2009 to transform Hallmark’s landfill waste and recycling programs into a complete resource management system that utilizes additional recycling opportunities, waste to energy programs and food waste composting to achieve the ultimate goal of sending … Continued

One of the most challenging synergies in KC-BPS’ history has been something relatively simple: cork! Not cork boards, not cork for wine bottles but 1-inch, perfect square pieces that could have many practical uses, right? KC-BPS members spent months trying to find someone to repurpose Harley-Davidson’s synthetic cork, which are small pieces used during shipment … Continued

Central Plains Cement (formally Lafarge Cement) is hot stuff.   Literally.  Cement manufacturing is one of the most energy-intensive industries on the planet, requiring Central Plains’ Kansas City plant to burn coal at 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit—about the surface temperature of a star. When Central Plains was burning 100% coal, they consumed 100,000 tons a year. They … Continued

Will Rogers, who lived through the great dust bowl once said: “They’re making more people every day—but they ain’t making any more dirt.” Food waste from the cafeterias and coffee shops at Sprint and Hallmark’s headquarters is composted. Special bins and biodegradable liners are used by staff to collect the food waste. The diverted landfill … Continued

Many years ago BNSF Railway built a storage shed to hold various paint supplies. Since they no longer paint locomotives themselves, management decided to dismantle the shed and dispose of all the contents. Included were almost 2,500 pounds of oil-based paints. Some containers were opened, which classified them as hazardous waste but others were brand … Continued

Midland Loan is an Overland Park-based company which has partnered with Bridging The Gap on a number of sustainability initiatives—designing and installing rain gardens, hosting an annual Earth Day with a BTG speaker, and even raising vegetables in hand-decorated pots to sell as a BTG fundraiser.  So when Midland was stuck with 50 faulty coffee … Continued