February 15, 2001

Meeting Minutes

Jeff Albert, Foit-Albert Architects

Lorraine Clemente, Buffalo Economic

Renaissance Corporation

John Daly, Trautman Associates

Mary Fisher, Environmental Education Associates

Laura Gang, Buffalo-Niagara Partnership

Adiel Gavish, Green Gold Intern

Dick Grainger, Conserval Systems

David Hahn-Baker, Inside-Out Political Consultants

Skip Hauth, BioEconomy Partners

John Kraus, Exhibits and More

Rachel Kaiser, Hatch Associates

Mike Lodick, SEER

Florine Luhr, Buffalo Niagara Enterprise

Randi Mail, Green Gold Dev.

Corporation

Mark Mitskovski, Erie County

Bill Nowak, Council Legislative Staff

Manager

David Pawlik, Clover Management

Tiffany Peake, Council Staff Intern

James W. Pitts, Council President

Claudia Sandoval, Integrated Tire

Chris Sansone, Erie County- DEP

Tom Siener, Ecology & Environment

George Strait, Hatch Associates

Darlene Vogel, URP Buffalo

Claudia Sandoval, presented on her company, which is 14 years old and has locations in NY, NJ and PA. Rated by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation as an industry leader, Integrated Tire accepts tires and rims of all sizes, provides on-site shredding for volume reduction and offers route services to customers.

In NY alone there are 24 million scrap tires, classified as municipal waste. Scrap tires have become an enormous problem, for a variety of reasons, namely fire hazards. A notable and timely concern is that tire piles greatly contribute to mosquito breeding and West Nile concerns.

Four alternatives to reducing scrap tire abundance include:

1. Reduction – Tire manufacturers need to increase a tire’s tread, therefore increasing the tire’s life, and reducing the amount of tires used.
2. Reuse – Tires with leftover tread are sold overseas to developing countries. Also, a scrap tires can be retread, or reused as filler in rubber products, asphalt production, etc. Reuse, accounts for ~30% the largest portion of Integrated’s business.
3. Recycling – Scrap tire chips become crumb rubber and are used in re-manufacturing. This accounts for 20% of their business.
4. Recovery – Energy harnessed from scrap tires, known as Tire Derived Fuel (TDF), a mixture of rubber chips and coal, provides a fuel that burns hotter and cleaner than coal with a higher BTU value.

Mrs. Sandoval emphasized that the tire market in NY is slowly improving. She has been instrumental in the formation and activity of New York’s Scrap Tire Management council, which has helped manufacturers to contribute to legislation favorable to the growth of the tire market.

Randi Mail gave an update on the progression of Green Gold’s sustainability initiative. Currently, she is working to develop a detailed proposal for the proposed Office of Sustainability. The proposal will describe positions, guiding principles, priority areas and ways in which the office would interact with other City departments. In the coming week, she will be convening a focus group to discuss this initiative and ways in which input from the Sustainability Committee can be effectively tapped.

John Kraus presented on his company’s expertise in creating displays for tradeshows, exhibitions and museums. Exhibits And More may provide assistance with the environmental Business Showcase, a project to highlight Green Gold companies and the EIP initiative. Mr. Kraus stressed the importance location plays with regard to audience as well as keeping the information brief and visually appealing. Several people suggested that Green Gold’s display makes use of environmentally friendly products and others offered by Green Gold companies. Mr. Kraus passed around posters showing examples of his company’s work.

Green Gold is moving ahead in planning a conference with UB’s Environment & Society Institute to be held October 10-12^th, 2001 in the Buffalo Convention Center. The conference titled, Learning Sustainability will feature Jane Goodall as the keynote speaker. Green Gold will present an exhibition/tradeshow/career fair at the event.

Jay Burney has been hired by ESI to coordinate the event’s planning. Mr. Burney has identified the need for five working groups including marketing, logistics, funding, partnership management and program development. In addition to Randi Mail, Drew Eszak and Jeff Albert will be involved on Green Gold’s end. Anyone interested in helping out on any one of these workgroups, having a display at the exhibition or would like to suggest an organization to contact please call Randi @ 851-5779.

Tom Siener from Ecology & Environment, the current environmental firm hired to assess Buffalo Forge, presented on their most recent investigation. Mr. Siener reviewed the site history and discussed initial tasks for the renovation of Buffalo Forge into Green Gold’s Eco-Industrial Park.

Initial tasks recommended for remediation prior to renovation include:

These tasks – estimated by Ecology & Environment to cost about $61,000 – define the objectives to be included in an Overall Remediation Plan.

Jeff Albert from Foit-Albert Associates shared his recent experience in India at the Maha Kumbha Mela. This event takes place once every 144 years on the banks of the Ganges River. The Ganges River has sustained the people for millennia and greatly defines the culture. It is regarded spiritually as the people look to it beyond a resource for physical sustenance.

Mr. Albert spoke of his amazement of how the people highly respect the land and the Earth’s resources. This trend stands in contrast to the way in which Western culture tends to exploit natural resources, displaying a tremendous disconnect to the Earth and the cycles of natural systems.