TOURS

Tours of various Dubuque environmental organizations, businesses and industry will be held the afternoon of Monday, October 3 from 1:30 – 5 p.m. Tours are an additional $25 fee and require pre-registration.

Tours depart promptly from the Five Flags Center.

Tour 1 (3.5 CEUs)

Historic Millwork District
The Historic Millwork District is saturated with history, authenticity and character, while offering valuable lessons about the importance of sustainable urban design strategies. A century ago, the District was the innovative and entrepreneurial center of the region and the backbone of the regional economy. Dozens of companies, 2,500 workers, a district heating system, and close connections to Dubuque's Downtown District and Washington Neighborhood characterized the importance of the Millwork District. The Historic Millwork District Master Plan resurrects the almost-forgotten strategy that connects people, planet, and profit in a mixed-use neighborhood. It offers a vision for a community reconnected with surrounding neighborhoods, re-energized with housing, retail, offices, galleries, entertainment, and employment, and re-imagined as a laboratory for sustainable practices and technologies.

Unison Solutions
Unison Solutions, Inc., founded in 2000, is an industry leader in biogas conditioning and distributed generation. Unison systems have been installed around the world at landfills, wastewater treatment facilities, dairies and food processing plants. Unison has manufactured gas treatment and compression packages in sizes that range from 20 scfm up to 8000 scfm. To date, Unison has provided 130 gas treatment and compression systems to the biogas marketplace. On the tour you will see a variety of biogas treatment systems in various stages of design, manufacturing, and testing plus learn about the process that Unison uses to make biogas a valuable energy resource.

DMASWA Landfill
The Dubuque Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency (DMASWA) is an intergovernmental entity formed in 1973 primarily for the purpose of owning and operating a sanitary landfill. Like Iowa's other landfill agencies, the DMASWA has since broadened its mission and now offers a full complement of waste management services. The Agency's municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill is located on Dubuque's west side along U.S. Highway 20 and its service area is Dubuque and Delaware counties. The Agency owns 460 acres of property, of which 80 are permitted for landfill use. Tour participants will see how GPS technology is being used by Agency staff and equipment to improve waste-in-place density and learn about the Agency's recently installed landfill gas collection system.

Tour 2 (3.5 CEUs)

Dittmer Recycling, Inc.
Dittmer Recycling is in the clean environment business and is a leading provider of solid waste collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services. They are dedicated to protecting the environment through the delivery of top-quality services to commercial, industrial, municipal, and residential customers throughout the tri-state area.

Roshek Building
The Roshek Rehabilitation is the largest and most formidable sustainable project ever to take place in the City of Dubuque. From its inception, the project has been quick paced and challenging, with only 5 months separating the start of the project and IBM’s occupation. The project resulted in the complete overhaul of over 250,000 square feet, including nine floors above grade, a lower level, and a sub-basement. IBM decided to renovate the building according to the United States Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system. Deconstruction during the project has included a clear and concise waste management plan involving recycling, reuse and salvaging materials.

Moors Salvage & Recovery
From taking in salvage to selling processed stock, Moor offers comprehensive recycling services. Materials accepted range from small scrap to vehicles and farm machinery and are processed through baling, sheering, oscillating conveyors, and hand sorting. The facility also recycles and dismantles appliances.