The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized its standards for managing hazardous waste (HW) pharmaceuticals. The goals of these standards are to create cost-saving, streamlined regulations that better fit the operations of the healthcare sector and maintain protection of human health and the environment. The final rule was published in the Federal Register on Feb. 22, 2019, and will become fully effective in Iowa on Aug. 21, 2019.

On Saturday, June 15th, we were excited to attend and be a sponsor at the Iowa Craft Brew Festival in downtown Des Moines. This year was the Iowa Brewers Guild’s 9th annual festival where craft breweries from all over Iowa got the opportunity to showcase some of their best beers. Over 70 craft breweries and cideries were featured at this year’s festival and around 20 of them had been certified through our Iowa Green Brewery Certification Program.

If your facility or business generates any hazardous waste, it's important to conduct periodic inspections of the storage and storage areas. For Small and Large Quantity Generators of hazardous waste, it’s a regulatory requirement that these inspections be done weekly.  Performing weekly inspections of hazardous waste storage will not only help manage waste streams and minimize the risk of state and federal fines, but it will also help identify any small problems within the storage areas and prevent them from turning into big, costly problems.

Tom Elsbernd and Keith Gerebics were awarded STAR4D Instructors of the Year this past Monday in recognition of their outstanding efforts and continued support for the STAR4Defense Training program at Fort Rucker.

The Iowa Waste Reduction Center’s Iowa Green Brewery Certification Program has been selected as a 2019 Iowa Environmental Council “Pro H20” honoree.

We are honored to share that the Iowa Waste Reduction Center (IWRC) is a recipient of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Notable Achievement Award, the Team Awards.

We are excited to congratulate Brightside Aleworks, out of Altoona, IA, as they join the ranks of Iowa Green Brewery Certification program.  This past week, Brightside was awarded a silver-level certification.

The Iowa Waste Reduction Center’s Spray Technique Analysis and Research for Defense (STAR4D) program has gone through many transitions since its start in 2003.  The program originally began as a means to provide effective painter training to the U.S. Armed Forces. Now in its 15th year, the STAR4D program continues to provide hands-on painter training to military personnel both on-location as well as our 16,000 ft² facility in the Cedar Falls Industrial Park. Recently, STAR4D has also added the actual painting of military assets to its portfolio helping the U.S. DoD and its contractors address the corrosion of military assets.

In 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted a new regulation to reduce the amount of mercury being released into the environment. With dental offices continuing to be a primary source of mercury being sent out to municipal wastewater treatment plants, it potentially poses a serious public health risk. The EPA is requesting that dental offices comply with this new regulation to minimize the potential of harm.

We are excited to welcome Exile Brewing Company, out of Des Moines, IA, to the ranks of the Iowa Green Brewery Certification. This month, Exile earned a certification for their silver level achievement.