Business Going Green:
Green businesses were among the 18 entrepreneurs to shine at the 2011 MO SBTDC/MO PTAC legislative business showcase

John McDonald accepts the Star of Entrepreneurship award for his business partner Michael Utz and their Kansas City-based recycling company Ripple Glass. Flanking them are Darrell Brammer (left), their business counselor from the University of Central Missouri SBTDC; and Chris Bouchard (right), interim state director of the Missouri SBTDC. The award came during the two-day MO SBTDC/MO PTAC Client Showcase in late January in Jefferson City.

Among 18 businesses honored at this year's awards banquet and business showcase in Jefferson City were three that have developed innovative solutions for a greener Missouri. In addition to green business, the showcase — sponsored by the statewide Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers (MO SBTDC) and the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (MO PTAC) — featured three other categories of business: main street, builders and producers, and technology.

"We didn't start out planning it that way to be honest. But once we saw the number of nominations we were receiving that reflected "green" companies, it gave us the idea to put them in a special category, and then we decided to do that with the other companies as well," says Mary Paulsell, director of strategic initiatives and communications for the University of Missouri Extension's Business Development Program, which administratively oversees MO SBTDC and MO PTAC.

"The reason we thought it was important was it clearly depicted the continuing emergence of "green" companies in our economy and it highlighted different types of innovation throughout the state. It also underscored the idea that a savvy entrepreneur can make money doing a good thing — that being successful and being environmentally conscious do not have to be mutually exclusive."

Each of the three green businesses has taken advantage of different emerging opportunities within the environmental arena, including environmental journalism, byproduct synergy and alternative energy sources.

Julie Koppen (right), publisher of Greenability magazine in Kansas City, accepts a senate resolution from state Sen. Jolie Justus, at a ceremony in the state Capitol rotunda.

For Julie Koppen, publisher of Greenability magazine in Kansas City, it was a defined-market need that provided the impetus.

"It seemed that I always had to search for information on how to make sustainable choices in the Kansas City area," says Koppen, who provides a forum for green lifestyle, housing, business, products and services. "I decided that I not only wanted to communicate but to create excitement about shifting the way we live and how we do it. I wanted to make this information accessible and easy and show people how to get from point A to point B."

Market need also drove the owners of Boulevard Brewery — John McDonald, Jeff Krum and Michael Utz — to start Ripple Glass, Kansas City's first comprehensive glass recycler. In this case there was not a need for a product, but a need to find a use for their byproduct ... empty bottles. Boulevard Brewery produces a variety of popular local beers that are available at restaurants, bars, supermarkets and convenience stores. The brewery owners were acutely aware that the 10 million empties their customers generated annually added to the refuse deposited in local landfills. The reason: the KC area had no glass recycling facility.

"In part Ripple Glass was started out of frustration with the lack of glass recycling in Kansas City. Our research indicated that this was because there was a lack of a collection network and lack of a processor, but there was not a lack of customers for recycled glass," says Michael Utz, principal and co-founder of Ripple Glass. "We decided to start collecting and processing the glass so that we could fill that void in the community. We believed that the positive effects would ripple throughout the state, that's how we got the name Ripple Glass."

The company has done just that. In addition to Kansas City, it now works with Platte City, Jefferson City, Springfield, Mo., and Lawrence, Kan., to recycle glass. This summer, it expects to get glass from Branson and Warrensburg. Ripple Glass collected more than 10,000 tons of glass for recycling in 2010.

Paul Hoeflinger (center) and his wife Erica, receive a house resolution from state Rep. Wayne Wallingford. Hoeflinger heads the Cape Girardeau-based Infinity Recycling Solutions LLC.

The third green business featured at this year's legislative show case, Infinity Recycling Solutions, has provided recycling solutions to businesses for 25 years. The company turns plastic waste into raw materials that can be used by manufacturers, and just last year it began to turn non-recyclable waste into saleable fuel pellets that burn cleaner, longer and hotter than traditional fuel sources.

"We take the dregs, the waste that can't be recycled and turn it into fuel pellets that burn cleaner than coal," says Paul Hoeflinger, the owner of Cape Girardeau-based Infinity Recycling Solutions. "We're all about finding ways to help businesses become responsible for their products."

Hoelflinger and the other green businesses at this year's conference believe the bar will keep rising for businesses and environmental performance.

"In the future businesses will be required to be 100 percent responsible for the products that they create," observes Hoelflinger. "Some businesses are already getting there-the ones that already recycle 93 percent of the waste from their products. The ones that aren't there yet need to start down that road before they get left behind."

This story was featured in the February 2011 newsletter