I traveled out to Washington , MO to visit with Innovative Enterprises, Inc., I know by the name what do they do. Well they have been making paper pallets for shipping and packaging for 30 years. Completely recyclable, and eliminates the use of wood. One question I forgot to ask, is if the cardboard they get made completely from post consumer waste? The glue they use is free of formaldehydes.

Well to my surprise when I got there I realized I went to high school with the owners of the company, I know so St. Louis. It was a thrill though to put it all together. The business is a family owned and operated. With Dad at the helm and the two sons working the operations and sales, they are getting it done.

The building process of the pallets was fascinating to me. They have a large warehouse with a bunch of pallet making equipment and people working the machinery in a complete rythmatic movement, quite impressive. Cardboard being folded, cut, shaped, glued, stacked and then out comes a usable packaging pallet to be shipped out for use. And it is all recyclable, very green.

I will be visiting them again real soon, so next time you are in the grocery store and pick up a bag of chips, ask yourself, hum where these shipped in on a wood pallet, or on a recyclable paper pallet. Oh by the way the pallet I stood on held 2500 lbs.

Being a huge Cardinal Fan as most people in this area can be, it was a real thrill for me to go and meet with the St. Louis Cardinals building operations today and discuss the new processes they have put in place and are looking into to be more green. They have added an additional self contained recycling dumpster which is serviced by QRS Recycling. The container is single stream recovery, which basically is everything other than the aluminum, that is collected in a separate container. Also they have added containers to put bottles, plastic and glass, along with cans in, so if you see a “roll away” bottle or can, please help out and throw them into the containers. You can also help out by taking them from your seat and throwing them in there appropriate containers. Labor is a big cost associated with recycling, all little bit helps from our end.

A couple of other cool things the Cards are doing is they are working with their suppliers to work on the products that are brought into the stadium. They are making a conscious effort to look at all the packaging, if it is recyclable or not. Also they are looking into if the Stadium qualifies to be certified through the USGBC LEED certification process.

Again for me it is just great to see the St. Louis Cardinals in transition to becoming more green in their efforts. Look for more to come with them and when your at the stadium give a quick hand, pick up a bottle or two and put them in a container. GO Cards!