ROTARY ON THE ROAD

Riverview Gardens- Meghan Warner

Riverview Gardens is a financially self-sustaining social enterprise, focused on job training for people in need, using urban farming and a park setting in downtown Appleton, WI.   Kelly Nutty presented to our members how Riverview Gardens helps our community and gives individuals a chance to change their lives for the better.  The program helps with poverty, homelessness and unemployment.  A few ways on how they do this is by creating a financial engine through the development of a thriving, market-based garden enterprise, engage community leaders about new strategies for ending poverty, homelessness and unemployment, provide transitional employment as people prepare for permanent employment, work with schools to help at-risk youth develop productive work ethics and to make healthy food accessible to all.  ServiceWorks is Riverview Gardens’ job training program.  It serves adults and high school youth who are unemployed or in need of positive social interactions.  Another great program Riverview Gardens’ offers is the Earn-A-Bike program.  Participants volunteer 15 hours with Riverview Gardens in exchange for ownership of a bicycle, lock, light and helmet.  Once this is earned, a bicycle can be brought back to Earn-A-Bike shop for repairs and tune-ups, if needed and at no charge.  Another great program that we learned about was the Riverview Youth Service Corps program.  This program gives high school students the opportunity to develop leadership and mentorship skills while volunteering at Riverview Gardens.  Riverview Gardens transformed a 72-acre course in downtown Appleton to the first urban farm, gardens, hoop houses and perennial orchards grow fruit, vegetables, herbs and nuts to feed hundreds of families.  The community has access to food production at Riverview Gardens through farmers’ markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares, local groceries and restaurants.  Riverview Gardens produce is sold primarily through their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs.  These programs are opportunities for individuals and households to purchase shares in Riverview’s production.  By purchasing a share you are helping provide the financial resources needed to fulfill their mission.  A CSA box from Riverview Gardens is a great way to fill your pantry and support your community!

Wastewater Treatment Plant-Jim Bowman

In 1883 when Appleton built its first sanitary and storm sewer system, residents were not concerned with environmental pollution.  By 1937, however, the Fox River was badly polluted and the city installed a Sewerage Treatment Plant and Interceptor Sewer System.  Wastewater would be treated before being discharged into the Fox River.

Since the 1960s, public concern with unclean water has grown, federal regulations have been issued, and the Wastewater Treatment Plant has responded with new equipment and processes.

Currently, five billion gallons of wastewater are transported from homes and industry to the facility each year through a network of 300 miles of sewer pipes.  The plant’s processes separate solids from water.  The two egg-shaped digesters help to stabilize sludge.  One outcome of the process is treated water which is discharged into the Fox River.  The second outcome is a material called biosolids which is provided to the agricultural community as fertilizer.  The facility recycles over 20,000 tons of biosolids to farms each year.

Outagamie County Recycling Center- Deborah Wetter

The facility, which opened in 2009, serves three counties – Winnebago, Outagamie and Brown, 65 communities and over 200,000 households.  Through the years they have steadily increased the service area and tonnages.  During 2010, the first full year of operation, they processed 46,000 tons of recyclables.  In 2013, more than 80,000 tons was processed, a 74% increase in just three years.  Increasing the business service area has allowed the center to utilize the capital investment of the facility by implementing a full-time second shift.  The two shifts employ nearly 60 people, many of them from Valley Packaging.  Dos and Don’ts of Recycling: Do accept #1 plastic bottles such as water and soda bottles.  #2 plastic bottles and jugs such as milk jugs and laundry detergent bottles.  Do not accept plastic bags, wrap or film (they jam up the equipment), no motor oil bottles, no Styrofoam (bad stuff, don’t use it if can avoid it).  Remove all caps and lids and discard (really important.  If left on can keep the plastic bottles from being recycled.), rinse bottles and jugs.  Do accept aluminum cans and bottles, steel, tin and bi-metal cans, empty aerosol cans (but none that had pesticide or poison in them).  Do not accept aluminum pans or foil or any empty paint cans.  Guidelines – rinse cans and bottles.  Discard plastic caps from aerosol cans. Do accept cardboard, paperboard (cereal box), newspaper, junk mail and office paper, phone books, magazines, catalogs, shredded paper (put in brown paper bag and staple shut).  Do not accept tissue paper or paper contaminated by food or grease.  Flatten and cut cardboard to no larger than 3’ x 3’.  Do accept food and beverage glass bottles and jars.  Do not accept windows, ceramics or china.  Rinse bottles and jars, metal caps and lids should be recycled.  Discard plastic caps and lids.  Most of the paper that is recycled in the facility is sold to local paper companies to reuse.  Plastic bags can be recycled at your local grocery store or Walmart.  Recycling keeps an incredible amount of material out of our landfill making our landfill last much longer and saving money.  The materials that are recycled by the Tri-County facility are sold to companies to make into new products which conserves natural resources. Fifty percent of the things we throw away could in fact be recycled.  Let’s all make an effort to increase the amount we are recycling to reduce the amount of material that goes into our landfill.  Its good business and good for our communities.