Greening Your ‘Mardi Pardi’ Celebrations

The crown jewel of the Soulard Mardi Gras season is just days away, and while green is one of the three prominent colors you’re guaranteed to see during the Grand Parade, the event is notoriously known for being anything but. While revelers from far and wide gather to watch krewes ride nearly 100 floats that will bring the theme of The Blues – Music, Hockey, Skies, Seas and more to life, you can do your share for cleaner air by keeping green on your mind this year in the midst of all that blue.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to go green during one of the largest Mardi Gras celebrations outside of New Orleans. You might even be surprised at how simple it can be to adopt just one of many possible eco-friendly actions to have a significant impact on improving the region’s air quality and helping people all over St. Louis breathe easier.

An expected 10,000,000+ strands of beads will be thrown to thousands of people lining the parade route on Saturday, Feb. 22. And sure, they make for a great souvenir, but these popular accessories made up of cheap plastic strings and other toxic materials like polystyrene and lead also pose an unnecessary threat to the environment. Instead of littering the streets or tossing them into trash cans, consider recycling your beads by dropping them off in a marked five-gallon bucket at one of the following locations: St. Louis Earth Day – Recycling Extravaganza, Soulard Farmers Market, Joanie’s and Joanie’s To Go, Shameless Grounds or Great Grizzly Bear. Or if you’re someone who loves Pinterest and channeling your crafty side, you may want to try your hand at reusing the beads in your next project, such as framed wall art or a decorative lampshade.

More than 10 tons of trash in the form of non-biodegradable Styrofoam cups, aluminum cans and glass bottles typically get left behind on parade day also, eventually winding up in landfills. Rather than tossing these items in the trash or on the street, keep an eye out for recycling containers along the parade route to properly dispose of waste and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

To help eliminate multiple vehicles on the road converging in Soulard, Metro is making it easy to get to the fun and festivities and offering a way to reduce transportation-related emissions. For just $5, riders can let the good times roll and avoid the hassles of parking and congestion by taking advantage of the MetroBus Mardi Gras shuttle. It will operate every 10 minutes from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. between the Civic Center MetroLink Station (near the Enterprise Center) in downtown St. Louis and the Soulard neighborhood.

We encourage you to incorporate sustainability into your favorite Mardi Gras celebrations this year to help fight for cleaner air, because that’s something everyone can celebrate! To learn more about the link between living greener and our air quality, visit our website tips section at www.cleanair-stlouis.com, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair.

Spotlight On: The City of Alton

For more than a decade, local businesses and municipalities have been working towards integrating sustainability measures into their everyday practices through the St. Louis Green Business/Green Cities Challenge. This month, the Clean Air Partnership is thrilled to shine a spotlight on the City of Alton, Illinois for their green efforts and commitment to being a great city in which to live, work and play.

Alton continues to pursue various strategies to be a more sustainable community, such as offering curbside recycling at no charge to residents and promoting the installation of energy efficient lighting and solar panels. In 2019, the city received the Award of Achievement in the Green Cities Challenge, where participants address sustainability within the range of operational requirements unique to local governments. Participating municipalities also incorporated a sustainability policy and practice fundamentals, including addressing measures defined by OneSTL, the regional plan for sustainable development.

Last year, Alton encouraged its residents to decrease energy use through the installation of solar panels with their Power Hours event. In addition, the city reduced zoning requirements on residential small solar system restrictions, allowing more residents to set up solar panels on top of their homes. Alton’s public works department also started a project to replace current high intensity streetlights with LED lighting. Annually, this project will save 18,403.770 in kilowatt hours, or $14,744.30 in electricity costs.

Other exciting initiatives include a $500,00 Great Streets planning grant the city received last February that will allow Alton to create places that improve the atmosphere of the downtown corridor. In doing so, downtown will be more walkable, which will help eliminate the use of multiple vehicles on the roads and reduce auto emissions to help keep the air quality in healthy ranges. These improvements will be enjoyed by and made accessible to all people, regardless of age or mobility.

Looking to the future, Alton hopes to see the addition of roof-top gardens throughout the city. AltonWorks, a social impact company with a vision for the revitalization of downtown Alton, set a goal to be the healthiest and happiest community along the Mississippi River in 10 years. After being named one of the “Top Ten Places to Retire” by AARP and “Best Place to Retire” in the state of Illinois by Forbes Magazine, they should be well on their way to reaching that goal!

Registration for the 2020 St. Louis Green Business/Green Cities Challenge is now open. For additional information on the sustainable efforts underway by the City of Alton and how your municipality can get involved in the Challenge, subscribe to the bi-monthly E-Newsletter or visit www.stlouisgreenchallenge.com.

To learn more about the link between sustainability and air quality, explore our website, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair.

Spotlight On: PGAV

In 2020, the St. Louis Green Business Challenge is celebrating 11 years of providing organizations of all types and sizes across the St. Louis metropolitan region with a clear and measurable road map to more comprehensive green business practices. This month, the Clean Air Partnership is delighted to continue to shine a spotlight on this premiere program and its tremendous impact on the environment, as well as one local company that is stepping up to fight for cleaner air in a big way.

Founded in 1965, PGAV Destinations is one of the world’s largest independent design firms, serving as a leading master planner and designer of theme parks, zoos, museums, aquariums, heritage sites, destination retail and brand-based experiences. Using intuition, intellect and imagination, the company is devoted to helping its clients create enduring memories in the minds of their visitors.

A proud participant of the St. Louis Green Business Challenge and a leader of sustainability, PGAV works to fulfill this responsibility by engaging its team on the topics of sustainability and global stewardship. As a company with local, national and global influence, PGAV’s Green Team exists to educate, advocate and empower its people, clients and partners to positively affect global health. In 2019, the company received the Achievement Award in the Star Circle of Excellence and an Award of Merit at the Leader Level – Tenant Category for the greatest gain from their baseline to final point totals during the Challenge.

To raise visibility for their green efforts, PGAV developed a logo and graphic palette that is used on all communications and internal signage throughout their offices. Other green innovations include a PGAV Bike Day, where the company hired VeloFix to provide free bike repairs to employees on-site. Employees also ran a bike repair and maintenance workshop to encourage alternative modes of transportation to help take vehicles off area roads and reduce emissions that lead to poor air quality. This past May, nearly 15% of employees participated in National Bike to Work Day, and that inspired additional group bike rides over the summer and fall months.

Several other noteworthy accomplishments in sustainability helped PGAV place high in the 2019 Challenge. The company’s continued transition to paperless accounting has helped decrease paper usage by nearly 50%, collectively saving over 255,000 sheets. Since last May, the company began offering junk mail list removal services for corporate and personal mail to significantly cut back on the amount of waste acquired, ultimately removing 224 names from 125 different mailing lists. Furthermore, PGAV has composted over five tons of organic waste since partnering with STL Compost in June 2018!

Registration for the 2020 St. Louis Green Business Challenge opens on Feb. 4. For additional information on the sustainable efforts underway by PGAV and how your company can get involved in the Challenge, subscribe to the bi-monthly E-Newsletter or visit www.stlouisgreenchallenge.com. To learn more about the link between sustainability and air quality, explore our website, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair.

“A Green Decade” Finishes Strong with St. Louis Green Business Challenge Class of 2019

2019 marked a huge milestone for the St. Louis Green Business Challenge, as they celebrated 10 years of delivering Triple Bottom Line results (fiscal, social and environmental) to businesses of all types and sizes across the St. Louis region. Like the Clean Air Partnership, the Challenge is focused on encouraging and inspiring voluntary steps to help improve the environment and air quality in the bi-state area, and we’re pleased to highlight its tremendous impact by recognizing some of the great work and innovative initiatives underway by several local businesses.

The Challenge is a program of the Missouri Botanical Garden and supports integration of sustainability measures into the kinds of everyday operational practices common to every business. As a part of the program, participants identify and adopt strategies that improve financial performance and engage employees in voluntary measures to reduce environmental impacts. Since its launch in 2010, 233 businesses, non-profits and municipalities have joined the Challenge and participation has engaged over 155,000 employees and nearly 470,000 residents.

In 2019, a total of 61 companies, non-profits, institutions and governmental bodies participated in the St. Louis Green Business Challenge. One-hundred percent of these participants formed a Green Team to lead sustainability efforts, participated in workplace recycling of both single-stream materials and electronics, have implemented and/or continue to add energy efficiency measures, provided employee education toward greening both the workplace and home, as well as established a Sustainability Policy or Sustainability Guidelines for their organization.

The Challenge’s tenth year kicked off in March with a Green Products and Services Showcase, where participants presented their sustainable service and product offerings in a B-to-B Resource Fair. The event also recapped achievements and related lessons learned from the 2018 Challenge with presentations from each program level.

Over the course of a year, challenge companies benefit from customized coaching, monthly seminars, workshops and various special events to maintain a robust regional professional network of sustainability leaders, representing a wide range of career specializations. Last year, Challenge leaders explored Green Infrastructure on the Ten Toe Express during July’s seminar hosted by Citizens for Modern Transit City and toured St. Peters’ Recycle City and Earth Centre in November to understand the processes at work when recycling and composting in the workplace.

At the completion of each Challenge program year, scorecards and case studies are submitted and points are tallied to determine the overall winners. To honor achievements across the program’s multiple levels of participation, there are several award categories, including the Award of Achievement, Award of Merit, Innovation Award, Circle of Excellence and Star in the Circle of Excellence. Top finishers last year at the Champion Level were Ameren Missouri, World Wide Technology, Inc. and Missouri American Water. Merit Awards at the Leader Level in the Tenant Category were earned by PGAV, Trane – Ingersoll Rand and Environmental Operations, Inc., while Commerce Bank, Forest Park Forever and Meridian Village – Lutheran Senior Services were the top finishers in the Owner Category. An additional nine municipalities were recognized for their efforts in the Green Cities Challenge. We’ll be profiling several of these standouts in the coming year so you can learn more.

Challenge 2020 registration opens on February 4. Activities will get underway with a kickoff seminar on March 11, featuring a B-to-B Resource Fair, “How We Did It” reports from participants at each level of the 2019 Challenge and a guest presentation from Envision Charlotte (NC), a public/private sustainability initiative using the principles of Circular Economy.

For more information on how to get your company or municipality involved in the St. Louis Green Business Challenge/Green Cities Challenge in 2020, contact program manager Jean Ponzi at [email protected] or subscribe to the bi-monthly Challenge eNews here. To learn more about the link between sustainability and air quality, be sure to check out our website, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair.

Celebrating 25 Years of Championing Clean Air for the Bi-State Area

As we celebrate the arrival of a new year, 2020 also marks 25 years of the Clean Air Partnership holding steadfast to its mission of educating the St. Louis metropolitan area about the health risks associated with poor air quality and the impact of everyday actions on the environment. Formed in 1995 by the American Lung Association, St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, East-West Gateway Council of Governments, Washington University and others, and today led by the American Lung Association in Missouri, the Clean Air Partnership continues to increase awareness of regional air quality issues and encourage activities to reduce air pollution emissions.

While ozone and particle pollution levels still indicate there are concerns for air pollution in the St. Louis area and nationwide, the region has seen vast improvements over the past quarter of a century. Not only did we once again escape being ranked among the top 25 most-polluted cities in the U.S. this past year, but according to data from East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the number of days where ozone levels in the area exceeded the standard continues to be on the downward trend!

To keep that trend going, year-round, the Clean Air Partnership is focused on inspiring area residents and businesses to take voluntary steps to help clear the air because those actions play a critical role in improving air quality conditions and lung health of our region. With transportation being one of the biggest contributors to air pollution, the organization and its many partners, including Citizens for Modern Transit, RideFinders, Metro, Madison County Transit and MoDOT, work hard to educate commuters and business owners about the air quality benefits of alternative transportation options, such as transit use and carpooling. The Clean Air Partnership also highlights many other steps individuals, businesses and municipalities can take to improve air quality, from avoiding vehicle idling and using flex time to telecommuting to take vehicles off the road at high traffic times, and many other simple steps.

Over the past 25 years, the Partnership has probably become best known for its daily air quality forecasting that takes place over the summer months. The forecasts utilize a color-coded system designed to keep area residents informed about ozone pollution levels in the region and our air quality, whether it is in a healthy “green” range, unhealthy “red” range, or somewhere in between. The information is particularly helpful for sensitive populations who may need to modify their outdoor activities on poor air quality days.

Thanks to numerous area residents, businesses, organizations, schools, hospitals and government agencies who work together to support our mission, there are far fewer poor air quality days now than there were when the Clean Air Partnership started. We look forward to continuing to champion this cause and helping the region breathe easier for the next 25+ years, making the metro area an even better place to live, work and play.

Committing to Clear the Air in 2020

As 2019 comes to an end, it’s easy to think about all the big changes ahead with the mindset of “new year, new me.” While some of the most popular New Year’s resolutions include hitting the gym, taking a chance on a new career or putting a hold on unnecessary spending frenzies, the dawning of a new year and new decade is also the perfect time to think about adding environmental goals to the list to help positively impact the region’s air quality.

Making the conscious choice to go green in 2020 and resolving to adopt some eco-friendly actions will result in multiple positive changes to your wallet, your health and the planet. You might even be surprised to learn how truly easy it can be to incorporate sustainability into your everyday routine. If you’re unsure where to begin, here are a few ideas to help jump-start planning your resolutions for the upcoming year:

  • Walk, Bike, Rideshare or Take Metro – Walking and biking eliminate harmful emissions entirely, and taking public transit is much more energy efficient than driving your own car. Thankfully, the region’s public transit system and ridesharing services are designed to eliminate the use of multiple vehicles on the road and offer great alternatives for the work commute or an option to hopping in your car for short trips. Any steps you can take to reduce your solo commuting by walking, biking, sharing the ride or taking public transportation will help individuals all across the St. Louis region breathe easier in 2020!
  • Drink from a Reusable Water Bottle – The statistics on styrofoam and plastic water bottles alone are highly alarming. At this very minute, people around the world are buying a million plastic bottles, and most of these bottles will end up in landfills or in the ocean. Not only does the production of plastic water bottles contribute significant amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, their litter lingers for years on end. Instead of buying single-use bottles when you’re out and about, consider buying a reusable water bottle you can take with you and refill as needed to cut down on unnecessary waste and help improve air quality.
  • Green Your Home – When it’s time to replace your appliances, go with ones that are Energy Star® rated to maximize efficiency. Switch out your incandescent light bulbs with LEDs, put timers on your lights to avoid unnecessary electricity use, and invest in some smart power strips. While reducing and reusing are the most effective ways to save money and natural resources, recycling is another important piece of greening your home by keeping waste out of landfills and turning glass, paper, plastic and other items into new materials. Set up separate recycling bins in your home so it is easy for all family members to participate and consider purchasing recycled products to help clean the air.
  • Go Paperless When Possible – Because we live in a digital world, there are many places where you can opt out of paper — whether it’s your credit card bill or receipts at your favorite store. If given the option, sign up for online banking or choose email versions of receipts when shopping. Cutting back on your paper consumption not only helps save trees, but also cuts back on air pollution and water consumption associated with producing and transporting paper.

For more great tips on how we can work together to achieve cleaner air in 2020, visit our website, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair. Have a happy and healthy New Year!

A Green Holiday is the Gift That Keeps on Giving

The next wave of holidays is right around the corner, and although we recognize this to be a wonderful time of the year, it’s also considered the most wasteful. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day alone, an added one million tons of waste will head to landfills each week.

While that may come as a shock, there are a variety of ways to combat unnecessary waste and help keep the holiday spirit alive. The more people that work to save energy and resources during the holiday season, the bigger the impact that can be made. Here are some tips to keep in mind for incorporating sustainability into those treasured holiday traditions:

  • Choose Your Tree Wisely – While it’s not the most traditional option, buying an artificial tree that can be used for years to come is an energy efficient choice. If this option is unalluring and you choose to buy a real tree, opt for a living one that can be planted outside or kept as a houseplant after the holidays. If you don’t choose artificial or a tree to plant in your yard, once the holidays wrap up, dispose of your tree at a chipping facility or look for holiday tree composting drop-off locations in your neighborhood to do your share for cleaner air.
  • Green Your Holiday Dinner Table – Whether you’re entertaining the entire extended family for the holidays or just a few close relatives, sourcing as many of your ingredients as possible locally helps to cut down on emissions produced by large transport trucks. The less your produce and supplies have to travel, the less waste is produced, and the smaller the environmental impact. Also, consider swapping out disposable plates, cups, napkins and silverware for your favorite set of dishes this year instead.
  • Switch to Online or Recycled Greeting Cards – Take a greener approach to sending out season’s greetings to friends and family this year. Instead of paper cards, consider using e-cards or recycled paper cards to spread holiday cheer. E-cards are the optimal choice not only because there’s no paper needed, but also because there’s no delivery vehicle involved that contributes to harmful emissions. Reusing the fronts of old cards as holiday postcards or gift tags is another great way to help improve air quality.
  • Gift Greener – Since nearly 35% of Americans have an unused Christmas present collecting dust in their closet, consider giving the gift of an experience to loved ones this holiday season. In doing so, oftentimes you’ll also be supporting the local community by gifting items like tickets to local theater performances, concerts, sporting events, local attractions and museum memberships. Gifting a used item from a second-hand shop or looking for items in your own home for a holiday exchange are also great ways to cut back on cost and green your holiday shopping. Using recyclable materials like fabric, old maps, newspapers or magazines for gift wrap is another easy way to reduce waste.

Making a few small changes to go green this holiday season can make all the difference in helping people across the St. Louis region breathe easier. For more information, visit our website, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair.

Wrapping Up Air Quality Forecasting in 2019

As a driving force in the fight for cleaner air in the St. Louis region, the Clean Air Partnership is best known for its daily air quality forecasting. The forecasts take place over the summer months and utilize a color-coded system designed to keep area residents informed about ozone pollution levels in the region, and how those levels can affect their health. While this forecasting season began with news that the St. Louis region had once again escaped being ranked among the top 25 most-polluted cities in the U.S., we still struggle with unfavorable air quality, as St. Louis ranked 29 in the nation overall for most ozone-polluted cities.

However, a look back over the past several months reveals that our air quality remained pretty healthy during the peak ozone season. Green was the dominant color with 148 days where the air quality was good, followed by 62 yellow or moderate air quality days. Even though we experienced four orange days where the conditions were unhealthy for sensitive populations, we actually cut this number in half from last year and had ZERO red days all summer!

Despite the fact that this is positive news for the region, there is still much work to be done in the fight for cleaner air to protect our local communities from the growing risks to public health resulting from increased levels of ozone and particle pollution. The Partnership encourages area residents to remain steadfast in their efforts to take voluntary steps to reduce emissions year-round, such as taking advantage of the region’s public transit system, carpooling, vanpooling, telecommuting, avoiding idling our vehicles and combining errands into a single trip. Together, we can continue to make great strides in improving the quality of the air we all breathe!

Rest assured, air quality forecasting will resume in May 2020. In the meantime, individuals can get a head start by signing up to receive the daily forecast in their email inboxes via the Environmental Protection Agency’s EnviroFlash air quality alert system. For more information on the health effects of poor air quality and tips for doing your share for cleaner air, visit our website, like the Clean Air Partnership on Facebook or follow @gatewaycleanair on Twitter.

Guide for Greener Holiday Shopping

Before we know it, the biggest holiday shopping weekend of the year will be here in the blink of an eye. Between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, the anticipation continues to build as deals are revealed through TV commercials, print ads and social media, all inspiring consumers to fill their carts and to take advantage of unbeatably low prices on the items on everyone’s wish lists. Despite the excitement of holiday bargain shopping, it is important to be aware of the negative impact your purchases may have on air quality and the environment, and to be open to greener alternatives.

Environmentally friendly behavior starts with buying decisions. Whatever your shopping plans entail, there are numerous ways to step up to do your share for cleaner air and reduce your carbon footprint while grabbing the great deals:

  • Bring reusable shopping bags – Holiday shopping is great fun but also a huge producer of plastic shopping bags. Consider keeping reusable bags in your car so they’re always available and you don’t have to worry about forgetting them at home. By using a reusable bag, you’re not only reducing the amount of non-renewable resources necessary to produce plastic bags, but also helping to clean the air by cutting down on the thousands of bags that end up in landfills.
  • Shop locally – Whether you’re heading to the mall for Black Friday or a local family-owned shop for Small Business Saturday, the less you have to drive, the better for the environment. Every gallon of gas saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and not driving store-to-store will help to reduce harmful emissions that lead to poor air quality. Also, if you’re planning to host a festive holiday dinner this year, consider shopping for sustainable produce from your local farmers. Not only does local, organic food taste better, but you’ll also be doing your part for the community and the planet.
  • Shop smarter online – For those who want to get the goods but avoid the lines, Cyber Monday offers all the benefits of Black Friday shopping, but from the comfort and convenience of your home. Opt for a stress-free shopping experience this year to reduce environmental impact and improve air quality. Online shopping is an increasingly popular option, as U.S. shoppers spent a record $126 billion on online shopping during the holiday season last year. It’s also considered by many to be a greener alternative as goods are often stored in and shipped from one central location, reducing fuel consumption from large transport trucks. To further reduce excess packaging, try consolidating all of your online orders to one store!
  • Look for environmentally friendly products – When making your purchases, especially big-ticket items, try to find the best green alternatives. Look for electronics and appliances that use less energy by checking for the ENERGY STAR® mark. ENERGY STAR certified products use less energy than standard models, ultimately saving you money on your utility bill while helping to protect the environment and clear the air. You can also make sustainable decisions about your purchases by choosing products made from eco-friendly materials, such as organic cotton or recycled plastic. And remember, giving the gift of your time or a shared experience may be among the greenest options of all.

A few small changes are all it takes to help people all across the St. Louis region breathe easier this holiday season. To learn more, visit the tips section of our website, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair.

Celebrate Recycling Day Today and Every Day

It seems only fitting that the sole nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting recycling in the United States falls in between Halloween and Thanksgiving, two holidays known for creating an excess amount of waste and having an adverse impact on the environment. Each year on November 15, millions of people across the United States take part in America Recycles Day, a day which was created to raise awareness about recycling and the purchasing of recycled products. Though the national recycling rate has increased over the past 30 years to 34% of all waste disposal being recycled, there is still much work to be done.

Created by the National Recycling Coalition in 1997 as a way to educate people about the importance of recycling for both the environment and the economy, America Recycles Day has grown into a nationwide phenomenon. On this day, thousands of events are held in cities across the United States to call attention to the importance of recycling and encourage individuals to sign the pledge, confirming a commitment to recycling and buying products made from recycled materials, with the hope that occasional recyclers will make it an everyday habit.

Luckily, there are countless ways for residents right here in the St. Louis region to take action in the fight for cleaner air by committing to reduce, reuse and recycle on America Recycles Day and in all aspects of daily life. In the general consumption of goods, we oftentimes ignore the fact that a major portion of our waste can be reduced or reused before resorting to recycling. Avoiding disposable items such as paper plates, cups, and utensils is a step in the right direction for cleaner air, as well as bringing your own reusable tote bags to the store to purchase groceries.

When presenting gifts during the next wave of holidays that are just around the corner, consider gifting experiences instead of things. And when you are gifting a physical item, consider opting for newspapers, old posters or reusable gift bags instead of wrapping paper. If you choose to buy gift wrap, look for recycled content gift wrap paper whenever you can find it.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than 60% of the waste that ends up in trash bins can be recycled. While cardboard, paper, food boxes, mail, beverage cans, plastic bottles and caps are among the most common items that you can put into the curbside recycling bin, what you can recycle depends on the recycling company serving your area. Be sure to check with your local recycling center to find out what you can and cannot recycle and make sure that you have the correct disposal containers available to ensure your efforts are being put to good use and heading to the recycling center, rather than the landfill you’re working so hard to avoid.

You can do your share for cleaner air and live a recycled lifestyle by taking the #BeRecycled pledge at www.americarecyclesday.org. The more material that gets properly recycled, the less that goes into landfills, ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions for cleaner air. For more great tips on how to achieve cleaner air year-round, visit our website, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @gatewaycleanair.