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Minnesota Nice and Minnesota Naughty for Environment
Let’s get the bad news over with. As much as we like to envision hearty locals dressed in flannel forever hauling canoes to sky blue waters, the EPA identified something rotten in Minnesota.
While on a recent visit to a McDonald’s Playland I was personally exposed to pollution as the contraption vomited noisy, sweaty, hyper children out of its tubes, however, it was not what the EPA identified as the trouble spot in our state.
Instead, on their 2010 Top 10 list for Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions from Large Facilities (facilities that create the highest levels of Greenhouse Gas Emissions), the #9 spot hails the coordinates of at I-94 and McKnight Road in Maplewood. You know that location as 3M Headquarters.
The highly interactive EPA report outlines how greenhouse gasses such as Carbon Dioxide, Nitrous Oxide, and Methane exit the 3M facility at a rate that exceeds all but eight of the 6,157 emitters measured.
While you are required to wear socks in the Playland, you may want to opt for higher levels of protection while touring the EPA hotspot of the 3M Headquarters.
Concern for the environment is not a lost topic with the Minnesota landmark business. For example, 3M has a “3P project” that involves collapsible shipping crates, designed to reduce waste and save money. The steel crates carry automotive parts to Germany and replace the former mode that used multi-piece wooden crates that were disposed of following a single use.
In the first year alone the new crates eliminated 315 tons of solid waste and saved 3M $101,000. With the mantra of “innovation promotes change” driving their new approach, the crates, which fold into a third of their full size, are sure to be followed by more ideas promoting better use of money and resources.
Saving money is a top motivator for innovation at 3M. Motivation to get off GHG list will hopefully spur even greater innovations.
Posted in Economic Development | Related Topics: Environment Regulation