Current Issue
September 2009 Issue
Cover Story
Small Biz: Waste farmers—redemption for the throwaway mindset
By Mike TaylorJohn-Paul Maxfield envisions the day when hauling trash to a landfill is as unthinkable as smoking on airplanes is now. But that day, he concedes, is 10 or 20 years down the road.
In the here and now, Maxfield cites a disturbing stat from the Colorado Association of Recycling.
“In Colorado, our recycling rate is 12.5 percent,“ he says. “Nationally it’s 28.5 percent. And that’s not a coincidence. The reason that happens is it’s very cheap to throw things away here.“
Supporting his point, Maxfield says landfill costs in Colorado range from $10 a ton in metro Denver to between…
Articles
Small Biz: Waste farmers—redemption for the throwaway mindset
By Mike TaylorJohn-Paul Maxfield envisions the day when hauling trash to a landfill is as unthinkable as smoking on airplanes is now. But that day, he concedes, is 10 or 20 years down the road.
In the here and now, Maxfield cites a disturbing stat from the Colorado Association of Recycling.
“In…
Colorado Cool Stuff: Create your own superhero
By Eric PetersonELOPE’S CREATE YOUR OWN SUPERHERO KIT
Brothers Keith and Kevin Johnson started elope - an acronym for “everybody’s laughing on planet Earth” - in 1993 selling mad hatter-style hats to ski and snowboard shops. In the years since, they’ve started a plant in China that manufactures exclusively for elope and…
Small biz: Backyard chicken better than a squirrel, at least
By Mike Taylor
My friend in San Antonio called one recent Saturday while I was in the backyard watering my corn and tomato plants, some of the produce I had set out to subsist on for the month of August. He had seen the video on cobizmag.com of me interviewing David Bravdica…
Power glide: Bill Ritter has bet his future on the new energy economy
By Robert SchwabAbound Solar’s new factory on Interstate 25 near Loveland is the antithesis of gritty traditional manufacturing. From the white interior to the casually dressed workers making components in air-conditioned comfort, it embodies the cool, clean look of a 21st century workplace – a linchpin in Gov. Bill Ritter’s “new energy…
Guest column:42 percent interest rates…are you crazy?
By Mike WiesnerEvery morning Maria gets up at the crack of dawn to the sound of babies crying and roosters crowing. It’s another blistering day in her small village of Santa Rosa, Honduras, one of the poorest areas in Central America.
Maria is a single mother of five, abandoned by her husband.…
Sustainability spotlight: etown of Boulder
By Mindy Pantiel
Nick and Helen Forster are no Johnny-come-latelies to the green movement. It has been almost two decades since their weekly radio show “etown” began broadcasting before a live audience from Boulder. Their mission was to both entertain and shed light on important issues…
Cote’s Colorado: Bill Ritter has no time to sit down
By Mike CoteGov. Bill Ritter stood on the steps inside the Capitol, patiently posing as a photographer got inches away from his face. You can see the gubernatorial result on this month’s cover.
We had been working with Ritter for about 20 minutes, and everything was cordial — though he didn’t much…
Executive edge: Bob King
By Lynn BronikowskiIt didn’t take long for Bob King to get back into the swing of the corporate world after taking time off from a diverse career most prominently marked as CEO of Corporate Express – which over seven years he took from a $50 million regional office supplier to a $4.5…
On management: Convincing people your idea has wheels
By Pat WiesnerThe would-be entrepreneur was taking yet another class on how to start a business and was pondering whether he would take the plunge this time.
“I have taken lots of courses on business and particularly on starting a business, but I have never really gotten up the courage to do…
State of the state: Health
It’s hard not to sweat during these uncertain economic times. Literally.
Although the recession has taken its toll on countless businesses across the state, Colorado’s health club industry continues to expand.
“I think don’t think we’ve been hit as hard as retail businesses because people still value their health,” said…
Top Company Finalists 2009
In a year of great economic challenge, being selected a Top Company finalist carries a deeper significance — it’s as hard to stay on top as it took to get there.
Top Company is Colorado’s most competitive business awards program, judged on the…
Guest voice: How to save money going paperless
By K.J. McCorryDo you know how much it costs your company per year to manage paper?
A study by Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) estimated the cost of paper management to be about $50 per document. This could include the cost of paper, printing costs, fax/copier equipment and supplies, distribution, mailing costs,…
Small biz: tech Startup: Boundless Corp.
By Eric Peterson
COMPANY
POROUS POWER TECHNOLOGIES LLC
INITIAL LIGHT BULB: As co-workers at the Boulder-based Boundless Corp., Kirby Beard and Tim Feaver helped develop a new separator material for lithium-ion batteries out of a PVDF polymer similar to Gore-Tex. When Boundless, a leading supplier of…
State of the state: By the numbers
46,000 – Number of attendees at last year’s Great American Beer Festival, the second straight year all four of the festival’s sessions were sold out. For this year’s 28th annual GABF, Sept. 24-27, the Colorado Convention Center hall has been expanded and more tickets made available.
750 – Number of…
VINE: Recession-proof brewing
By Jay DedrickThere’s an old axiom that alcohol is one of those consumer goods that’s recession proof. So the confirmation that breweries in the country’s unofficial beer capital, Colorado, are weathering the current storm isn’t surprising.
What has many brewers pleasantly surprised – if not outright shocked – is that they’re not…
The Economist: Should I worry about deflation, inflation or both?
By Tucker Hart AdamsAlmost two years ago I wrote a column on inflation, quoting the photographer who’d said to me, “It isn’t inflation people worry about. It’s prices going up.” Today, the talk is about the risk of deflation.
The World Bank warns that the global economy will fall into a “deflationary spiral”…
Colorado cool stuff: Belletare Skincare
By Eric PetersonBELLETARÉ SKINCARE
A self-described “recovering lawyer,” Kim Nolan has a passion for skin care. “I started in 2004, mostly for friends, family and myself, in my kitchen actually,” she says. From there, she found a contract manufacturer for her all-natural, mostly organic recipes, which include such exotic ingredients as acai…
Sports biz: Beering with Bowlen
By Stewart SchleyHappy anniversary, Patrick Dennis Bowlen!
Grab a seat and order whatever you want from Clancy over there at the bar. There are two-fers on Fat Tire until 6 p.m. Anyway, it’s good to see you. It’s been what? Twenty-six years, almost, since you and your mom and siblings cobbled together…
State of the state: Awards
When Barry Cooper, chairman and CEO of Cooper Tea Co., made the list of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year finalists for the third year in a row, he didn’t write an acceptance speech. After being nominated twice without victory, he was doubtful he would win.
“After my first…
State of the state: Tourism
A few years ago, Ed Mumm, a New Zealand-born fence-builder, was building his own Steamboat Springs home and excavating the foundation with an excavator. As he moved the earth, a smile spread across his face. Soon he was euphoric, sitting in his machine, laughing out loud.
“I thought that people…
State of the state: Executives
In early August, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce picked a replacement for outgoing CEO and president Joe Blake, who recently joined Colorado State University as chancellor. But new chamber leader Kelly Brough didn’t take the helm right away.
Brough, who edged out…
