SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

The government spends thousands to millions of dollars making plastic IDs for their government employees each year. When these IDs expire or their beholder leaves his/her position, they are then tossed into the trashed and disposed as waste; waste destined to sit in a landfill. Why not recycle them? By making IDs out of recycled plastic and then recycling the IDs themselves after use, the government could not only increase... more »

The markups on these products are astronomical. The companies that sell them are all making HUGE profit margins on the order of 1000%+.

For example, we use Rainin pipettes in our lab. A 960 tip refill box costs $45 from rainin.com. If you order 10 of them they drop the price to $38. If you order a compatible product directly from a manufacturer in China it costs 96 cents not including shipping. That tells me that... more »

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services currently issues very expensive Certificates of Citizenship and Certificates of United States Naturalization. They are printed by the Treasury Department's Engraving & Printing and then issued after vetting and a fee of approx. $600 dollars plus is paid to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Converting these certificates into plastic card identifiers would cost... more »

Eliminate disposable paper, plastic, and styrofoam materials in federal cafeterias and tenant kitchens by requiring dishwashing. One standard set of kitchenware could be available for each cafeteria/kitchen to use collectively.

DoD et. al. fund unconventional fuel source research to limit dependency on foreign sources. Typically, these advances create unintended consequences in supply of other resources. Alternative fuel production from agricultural product is one example that clearly demonstrates how an increased production can negatively affect food costs by decreasing available supply.

Further alternatives exist that would not create these... more »