Archive for June, 2010

Asian Market Pueblo – Featured Advertiser

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

Asian Market Pueblo, located at 947 US Hwy 50 in Pueblo, Colorado, has a wide selection of authentic Asian cuisine, including: Fresh & Live Seafood, Spices & Herbs, Soups & Seaweed, Sauces & Seasonings, Rice & Flours, and MORE!!!
Mention That’s Natural! for a 5% Discount, and call them at: 719-253-7771.

Tire rubber asphalt program receives Excellence in Recycling Award

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

This article was originally printed in the City of Colorado Springs Green Greetings.

On June 8, the City of Colorado Springs Street Division received an Excellence in Recycling award for their leadership role in recycling waste tires. Starting in 2006, the City began an experimental resurfacing program using Permeable Friction Course Terminally Blended Tire Rubber Asphalt (TBTRA) that to date has used a total of 226 tons of liquid tire rubber from approximately 45,500 recycled tires. Over the last four years, 78 lane miles of roads in Colorado Springs have been paved with TBTRA. Beginning in 2010, the City’s TBTRA paving program is planning to exclusively use waste tires generated in Colorado. Not only has the City’s TBTRA program been well received by local citizens, the positive buzz has led other communities across the state to try incorporating TBTRA into their paving programs.

Even in tough economic times, the City Street Division and Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) have continued to support the use of TBTRA as part of the City’s street maintenance program. While the primary user benefit of TBTRA is extending pavement life, the product has also proven to have significant safety and other benefits, including improved road conditions in rain and snow storms, noise reductions of up to 3 decibels, ability to filter out of contaminants from storm water runoff, and an exceptionally smooth driving surface.

The Colorado Springs Street Division changed its experiment in 2007 from using mixes with 10 percent tire rubber content in the oil to 15 percent tire rubber content. This further increased the amount of waste tires that could be used by the program. On average, 2.1 waste tires are used per ton of asphalt mix; 291 tons of TBTRA are typically used per lane mile.

Within Colorado, tire rubber asphalt historically had a poor reputation due to durability issues and environmental pollution in the manufacturing process. Street Division Manager Saleem Khattak, assisted by Bob Syme of the PPRTA maintenance program and the Arizona Department of Transportation, researched these problems and found ways to mitigate them. When challenges arose in the field, City staff and their partners identified the causes and documented them with pictures, turning the lessons learned into a technical presentation now used to help their staff and contractors, as well as other communities, develop best practices for the application of TBTRA in Colorado. This proactive information sharing has increased the chances that others will experience positive outcomes when trying TBTRA, further encouraging its use.

One of the unique elements of Colorado Springs’ use of TBTRA has been extensive scientific documentation and testing. By investing in noise studies, pavement condition analysis, and testing of TBTRA over a long period of time using different percentages of rubber, various rock sizes and underlying surface conditions, the Street Division has quantifiably demonstrated TBTRA’s benefits. This testing and documentation has helped to overcome industry hesitation and has changed the perception of TBTRA’s viability in our state.

The City plans to continue using TBTRA where appropriate and economically feasible, as it has shown to be good for the City, the environment, and the roads that the Street Division safeguards for our community. However, building an economy of scale through multiple users is critical to the future development of regional manufacturing of the terminally blended oil, more tire recycling plants in Colorado, a subsequent reduction of costs for the product, and the overall reduction of waste tire stockpiles in the state.

The Colorado Association for Recycling brings together individuals and leaders in business, education, nonprofits, and state and local government to take action to turn greater amounts of waste into resources. Their annual award program recognizes governmental entities, individuals, companies and organizations for their excellence in recycling. The Outstanding Government Recycling/Diversion category is awarded to a public agency that leads by example, creating programs that efficiently increase recycling and waste diversion.

Southern Colorado Clean Cities Coalition Leads Way for Electric Vehicles with Regional Collaboration & Electric Vehicle Showcase

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -  The Southern Colorado Clean Cities Coalition continues education and preparation for electric vehicles with its Electric Vehicle Showcase on Friday, June 25th.  This event is the 2nd in a series of electric vehicle topics that Southern Colorado Clean Cities has brought together this year.
Clean Cities members may join in the regional collaboration on planning for electric vehicle (EV) plug-in infrastructure, EV funding initiatives, current projects and grant proposals from 10:00am – noon.
The public is welcome to the electric vehicle demonstration from noon – 2:00pm.  Exhibitors include Duke’s Garage with their 1957 Porsche Speedster converted to EV; charging station demonstration; Boulder EV’s all electric delivery and work vehicle; hybrid vehicles from Phil Long Ford; neighborhood electric vehicles from Perkins Motor Company; electric bicycles & more.
Sponsored by El Paso County and Phil Long Ford, the event will be held at the El Paso County Department of Transportation, 3275 Akers Rd., Colorado Springs.  While the EV Showcase is open to the public and free to attend, you must be a Clean Cities member to attend the collaborative meeting.  BBQ lunch will be available for purchase.
The Southern Colorado Clean Cities Coalition works to advance economic, environmental and energy security by supporting local decisions to adopt practices that contribute to the reduction of petroleum consumption.  The Southern Colorado Clean Cities Coalition is one of 87 U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities programs throughout the nation.  Clean Cities programs develop public/private partnerships to promote alternative fuels and advanced vehicles, fuel blends, fuel economy, enhanced air quality and idle reduction.
For more information visit:  Southern.CleanCitiesColorado.org.  To become a member or RSVP for the event, contact Dianne@CleanCitiesColorado.org.

USDA Rural Development Announces New Program – Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP)

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

USDA Rural Development is accepting applications to support the development and ongoing success of rural microentrepreneurs and microenterprises.  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the funding for the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP) at the Rural Summit held in Missouri last week.

The program is authorized through the 2008 Farm Bill and will help small, start up businesses build a sustainable rural community.  The program will provide access to capital, business-based training and technical assistance to the smallest of small businesses.  Funding for this program may include loans and grants to Rural Microenterprise Development Organizations (MDOs).

MDOs may utilize the funds for microloans to rural microenterprises and microentrepreneurs (business generally with 10 employees or less and in need of financing of $50,000 or less); business based training and technical assistance to rural microborrowers and potential borrowers.

For Fiscal Year 2010, $45.1 million is available nationwide.  Eligible MDOs are required to provide a match of not less than 15% of the total amount of the grant.  Awards will be made on a competitive basis each quarter.  Applications are due no later than July 16, 2010 to be eligible for funding this fiscal year.  Applications received after July 16, 2010 will be reviewed and evaluated for funding beginning October 1, 2010.

For more information in Colorado contact April Dahlager, Business & Cooperative Programs Director, (720) 544-2931, april.dahlager@co.usda.gov.

American Wiping Rags – Featured Summer Advertiser

Saturday, June 12th, 2010



Want sustainable and environmentally friendly wiping/cleaning rags and absorbents?  You need American Wiping Rags!

Visit American Wiping Rags and Shelley the Rag Diva HERE!

Sneak Peak! Summer Edition 2010 of That’s Natural!

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Our Summer Edition is at the printer, but you can take a sneak-peak, online at http://www.thatsnatural.info


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