# Presentation: 261781

**Presented by**
**Joan Steurer**

**EPA National Air Quality Conference**
**Orlando, Florida**
**February 14, 2007**

## Kansas City Metro

**Kansas City Metro**

- Kansas City air quality boundary includes:
- Two states
- Five counties
- 77 municipalities
- 1.5 million people

- Currently an attainment area
- May be in violation as early as next year

## Clean Air Action Plan

- Objectives
- Protect resident health
- Maintain compliance with EPA standard
- Make recommendations for strategies if a future violation occurs
- Strategies
- Emissions controls on power plants
- Reduce diesel emissions
- Public education
- Sustainable land use

## Source Reduction Workshops

- Boost your Bottom Line with Native Landscaping for large-scale property owners
- Kicking the (Isopropyl) Alcohol Habit for printers
- STAR Painting Techniques for auto painters
- Establishing and Maintaining Native Landscapes for municipalities
- Raingardens and Native Landscaping for homeowners

## Common Themes for Workshops

- You will save money
- Your end result/product will be better
- Cleaner air is good for the economy
- Corporate responsibility

## Rationale:  About 9% of VOC pollution in KC Metro is due to lawn and garden operations
Intended Audience:  Large property managers
Municipalities, businesses, cemeteries, lawn care professionals, airports, shopping areas, schools.

- Intended Audience:  Large property managers
- Municipalities, businesses, cemeteries, lawn care professionals, airports, shopping areas, schools.

**Boost Your Bottom Line with Clear Air Lawn Care**

## Clear Air Lawn Care: Overview

- Native landscaping means reduced costs associated with
- Mowing, fertilizing, watering, planting, maintenance

- Less mowing and chemicals means cleaner air
- Native landscaping is attractive

## Marketing
Brochures
Personal phone calls and emails
Newsletters
Meeting announcements
Giveaways
100 no-spill gas cans
$400 lawn trimmer donated by Shindaiwa
Lunch

- Brochures
- Personal phone calls and emails
- Newsletters
- Meeting announcements
- Giveaways
- 100 no-spill gas cans
- $400 lawn trimmer donated by Shindaiwa
- Lunch

**Boost Your Bottom Line with Clear Air Lawn Care**

## Clear Air Lawn Care: Partnerships

- AES Lawnparts
-   Small engine selection, use and maintenance

- Missouri Department of Conservation provided cost analysis
- Success stories
- Lion’s Gate golf course, City of Lenexa, City of Smithville, Corporations

## Clear Air Lawn Care: Results

- 97 attendees from 47 organizations:
- 96% plan to implement native landscaping within 0-3 years
- 60% said they would consider emissions when choosing equipment
- 70% said that they learned about equipment choices and/or maintenance
- Potential annual emissions reductions due to change in landscaping practice
- 5 tons of VOC
- 4.6 tons of NOx

- 0.8 tons of PM
-  454.0 tons of CO2

## Kicking the (Isopropyl) Alcohol Habit

- Rationale:  5% of VOC emissions are area-source printing solvents
- Intended audience:  Small to medium-sized unregulated printers
- plant managers, owners, pressroom supervisors, press operators

## Kicking the Habit:  Overview

- Isopropyl alcohol can be eliminated
- Compatible inks provide higher-quality product

- Clean-up is easy with correct materials
- Employees health improves

## Kicking the (Isopropyl) Alcohol Habit

- Marketing:
- Exclusive mailing list
- Phone calls
- Newsletters
- PIA website
- Incentives:
- Door prizes, free lunch
- tour of KC Star’s new press

## Printers:  Purposeful Partnerships

- Printing and Imaging Association
- Brought technical experts from Prisco, K-B Litho, and Enovation to discuss alternatives to isopropyl alcohol
- Brought technical expert from INX International to discuss compatible inks with alcohol alternatives
- Did most of the marketing – members and nonmembers
- Printing Professionals from local companies
- Spangler Graphics, Hallmark, Tension Envelope, Commercial Lithographing: discussed lessons learned
- Kansas City Star
- Provided pre-production tour of largest KBA Commander press in North America

## Printers:  Results

- Attended by 35 people from 25 companies
- Potential emissions reduction of 18,755 pounds of alcohol-related VOCs per year
- Workshop information also distributed via PIA website to 1000+ members

## Painting Techniques for Cleaner Air

- Rationale:  Area source automotive coatings are about 1% of VOC
- Intended audience:  Auto body shop owners, managers, and painters

## Painting Techniques Overview

- More efficient transfer means waste reduction
- Waste reduction results in savings

- No new equipment is needed
- Good technique is vital to employee health

## Painters:  Purposeful Partnerships

- Iowa Waste Reduction Center/ CarStar:  Provided instructor
- CarStar trains all painters on this technique
- Johnson County, KS
- Assisted with marketing

## Painting Techniques for Cleaner Air

- Marketing:  Brochures, postings, phone calls, letters from regulatory agency
- Incentives:  Free lunch, $1000 class in STAR painting technique

## Painters:  Results

- Attended by four people from three companies
- Estimated reduction of 22% emissions from one company

## Native Landscaping for Municipalities

- Rationale:  Governments have the most control over their own emissions and a great interest in reducing costs
- Jackson County intending to increase native landscaping
- Intended Audience:  All personnel from Jackson County Parks and Recreation and Natural Resources
- Need to understand benefits
- Need to make on-the-job decisions

## Native Landscaping for Municipalities

- Marketing:  Mandated by supervisor
- Incentives:  Lunch, no-spill gas cans, native seeds, half-day away.

## Native Landscaping: Purposeful Partnerships

- Missouri Department of Conservation
- Air and water quality benefits of native
- How to establish and maintain native landscape
- Tour of native plantings
- Shaw Nature Reserve:  Bed plantings
- AES Lawnparts:  Small engine selection and maintenance
- KCMO Water Department:  Large engine maintenance and fleet management
- Jackson County, Missouri

## Native Landscaping:  Results

- 80 participants
- Survey results indicated participants
- Learned about air and water quality; many were not aware of problems
- Understood benefits and principles of native landscaping
- Would become more conscientious about equipment use and maintenance

## Native Landscaping for Residents

- Rationale:  About half of mowing emissions are residential
- Intended audience:  Jackson County employees

## Native Landscaping for Residents

- Marketing:  Offered as a brownbag seminar, encouraged by County Executive
- Incentives:  Snacks, native plants, gift certificates

## Native Landscaping for residents

- Installing a rain garden is good for water quality and air quality
- Reduced yard size means reduced mowing, fertilizer, watering
- Native grass instead of lawn may not need to be mowed
- Trees help save energy

## Native Landscaping:  Purposeful partnerships

- Jackson County, Missouri
- Did all marketing
- provided giveaways
- Prairie and Wetland Center
- Provided speaker
- Provided giveaway items

## Residential Native Landscaping:  Results

- 80 participants
- Intend to increase native landscape
- area from 9 to 26%
- 95% will install some sort of native
- Annual emissions reductions
- 84 pounds of VOC
- 8 pounds of NOx
- Other benefits
- Cut chemical use in half
- Reduce water use by about 75,000 gallons
- Learned about air quality and benefits of natives

## Successes – Just ask!

- Technical experts and professional organizations see an
- People love to tell
- 	(corporate responsibility)
- Traditional partners such as DoC, Extension Office, can often provide speakers
- Especially if you

- opportunity

- success stories

- reciprocate

## Successes -Keep within budget with free stuff

- Distributors who are invited to speak may provide samples, giveaways, door prizes
- Look for low-cost site
- Status as non-profit
- Partner agency’s site
- Elbow grease

## Successes – Ride the Wave

- Know what momentum exists in your area and capitalize on it
- Example:  Raingardens:  Good for the air, too!

## Successes – Partners and Marketing

- Most successful:  Partner’s network was used to get invitations to participants
- Most dismal:  Mailing and cold calling

## Successes – Quantify!

- Must ask questions that find out how participants intend to change behavior
- Establish baseline
- Have a good model
- Ask objective questions that yield quantitative answers

## Questions?

- Joan Steurer
- _[JSteurer@marc.org](mailto:JSteurer@marc.org)_
- (816)474-4240
- _[www.marc.org](http://www.marc.org/)_