Eco-Tarts at Work

By Rebecca Buchanan
April 1, 2006

I admit to being late to the whole "protecting the Earth" thing. Sure, I played in the woods behind my house as a kid, and I watched nature shows on tv, and when the Second Wave of Environmentalism hit in the early 90s I thought, "Yeah, that's cool."

But I didn't really do much. Only in the last few years have I really begun to pay attention to what's happening to and in the world around me. I joined Greenpeace and COPIRG (eco group here in Colorado). I started shopping at Sunflower Market, the local organic grocery store, and Green Logic, an interior design and clothing store. I started paying attention to how much gas I put in the car (I look forward to the day when I can buy a hybrid, or even a hydrogen-powered vehicle). I dump everything I can in the recycle bins, instead of the trash bin. And I have begun agitating at work for more eco-friendly practices — and boy, is there room for improvement :( My bookstore doesn't recycle paper (!) or plastic gift cards (?!), and every week boxes and boxes and boxes of stripped magazines and books are dumped in the trash. Oh, and let's not forget all the food that gets thrown out by the café staff every night, or the fact that the lights are left on 24/7. *grumble*

And its not just my workplace that needs improvement. Check out what some other Tarts had to say on the subject.

Deanna: I work at a university, and they do seem to make some efforts at recycling — bins for pop cans, plastics, newspapers, paper printouts, etc.

But what really pains me to see is when the students move out of the dorms in May — the dumpsters and dorm hallways are filled with discarded items. My husband, who was a resident adviser, went through the halls of his dorm last year and found a matching set of study lamps, a paper tray organizer, and a DVD player. Our other friend even found a working, yes, working laptop in the trash room. Walking around the dorms, I've seen nearly new pairs of tennis shoes shoved into trash cans, bags of clothes left solely because the student didn't have room in the car, couches and chairs thrown into dumpsters because students didn't like them any more.

With all these items that are needlessly left and thrown out, I would really like to see the university invite the Salvation Army or Goodwill to campus during move-out week. They could set up a station outside of each residence hall and load all these unwanted items onto trucks. The students can get rid of them, and the companies can put them to good use to help others.

It's a win-win situation. There will be a lot less trash in the landfills during the first week in May. And maybe it will teach the students to recycle as many items as possible.

Katherine: My workplace does actually have a pretty progressive recycling program, which was started by a very motivated Environmental Studies student named Tara Pike about a decade ago.

Not only is Rebel Recycling a great example of how one person can make a change, but the program has recycled a lot of material.

Twice a week in the library where I work, Rebel Recycling students visit and empty the recycle paper bins, which are placed throughout the building, both in the staff and public use areas.

Because of this wonderful program, the amount of paper that actually ends up in my wastepaper basket is very small. (It's almost all used tissues.)

The only problem with Rebel Recycling is that the program could be a little bigger. For example, in my building, the emphasis is on collecting paper; there's no place to recycle empty soda cans or plastic bottles which mean these get thrown out unless somebody wants to hoof it somewhat more than a football field to the nearest pickup point for plastics and cans. From what I understand it's a matter of the small volume our building would generate vs. the cost/time of sending someone over every day to pick them up.

But this is a very small quibble with the program when one considers the scope and volume of the materials they recycle and the enormous good they have done for the campus and the community. I hope TPTB have the good sense to keep Rebel Recycling properly funded and adequately staffed in the coming decades.

Kim: Though my workplace is in California, it is not terribly eco-friendly, so there are a lot! The top three areas most needing improvement are recycling, transportation, and water use. There are few recycling bins around campus, so anyone wanting to recycle has to do a lot of work on their own. As you might imagine, not so many people want to save up paper and containers in their offices (or bookbags, for the mostly commuting students) and then schlep them somewhere else on campus to be recycled. I often don't have time to eat, let alone do that. And my office is tiny! At previous jobs, every office had its own paper recycling bin and there were bins for containers in every corridor. Both were emptied at least weekly. I really wish my current employer did that too.

Second, we desperately need better public transport. This is not a problem only with my employer, but in the whole town. Buses run on a very limited schedule and don't cover the part of town where I (and many others from my workplace) live. Since the streets are not very pedestrian- or bike- friendly either, this just about forces everyone to drive. Many of our students commute, so this is a big issue for the whole school. I'd love to see my employer partner with the town and maybe some other businesses to expand bus service. Unfortunately when I've made suggestions about this, most people seem to feel that California is all about car culture and say it will never happen. But hey, I can dream!

Finally, California's Central Valley, where I am, basically has two seasons, wet and dry. The wet season, from around November to April, resembles March-April on the East coast (where I grew up) — cool with mixed sun and rain. From about May through October there is no rain AT ALL. It's a desert. Farming is only possible through widespread and constant irrigation. And yet my workplace has five water "features." Five bodies of water with large fountains in them. Now I don't object to having one or two; they add a pleasant sound and attract birds, and create some cooling moisture. But five? This seems pretty wasteful, both of the money and the water needed to maintain them. They are pretty, but very artificial and I am saddened to think of the money, energy, and water that might instead be saved, or spent on something the school and town need more, like a better research collection in the library, or a community farm, or anything more useful and less ostentatious.

What most bothers me about all of these issues is the seeming disregard for the community, the environment, and for things the school desperately needs. I know these needs are valued, yet money is spent on showy fountains. Oh well. Add it to my list of crusades!

Marissa: Right now I'm working at the college I'm attending, so the earth-friendly practices are pretty good — there are recycle bins for glass/cans and for paper pretty much everywhere.

One thing that would be good, however, would concern the course packages of compiled articles that we purchase for many of the Political Science, Sociology, and English classes; new ones are made every semester, so the old ones become outdated. They're still a wealth of information when it comes to writing papers and such (I keep all of mine and refer to them constantly), but unless individual students keep their packages they just get thrown away. Some sort of system where these course packages are re-sold for a nominal fee or simply exchanged would probably be a better way to repurpose them!

Patti: I would also like to see more earth-friendly containers other than styrofoam.

Having our water cooler back would conserve water.

I would like to see resumption of recycling soda pop cans. We have a lot of people and they go through a lot of pop! I would also like to see a program where the company would donate any old, outdated, but perfectly functional equipment to local charities.

Instead of balloons or other things at holidays, perhaps more earth-friendly or recyclable decorations. I would also like to see Earth Day celebrated at work.

Suzette: Our univerity has been making strides in creating and maintaining sustainable campus policies. There are paper and bottle recycling bins almost everywhere, administrative processes are moving to "paperless" means, and new buildings are planned to LEED Sustainability standards. However, there is room for improvement:

— Less reliance on fast food franchises, more emphasis on organic foods and encouragement of reusable containers especially in university-operated food service outlets.
— Addition of plastics recycling bins and additional staff to deal with recycling.
— Less surface parking, more secure bike racks.
— Where possible retrofit water, air and heating infrastructure to
maximize heat recovery and appropriate use of grey water.
— Roof gardens on new and renovated buildings.

Wolfen: When I worked for a major bookstore chain, the amount of trash we threw out everyday frankly made me ill — not just foodstuffs from the café, but box after box of stripped magazines, which are not recyclable, as well as plastic wrapping. Styrofoam peanuts were reused at least — we had a vacuum that sucked them up into bags, and we would use them to ship stuff. The stripped books were recycled at the second bookstore I worked at, but not the first store — the local recycling company charged for their services, and I guess the home office wasn't willing to pay for it. I look forward to the day when all books are printed "on demand," so that no book is needlessly printed (and yet no book would ever go "out of print" either!).

Disney World, where my parents work, has an awesome recycling program: they hired a service that goes through every single bag of trash and sorts out everything that's recyclable or compostable. There's almost no trash left by the time they're done!

Rebecca: See! So much room for improvement! It makes so much business sense for businesses to adopt earth-friendly practices. Think of the money that will be saved in the long run, the goodwill that will be built up with the community, the preservation of natural resources. I really do not understand why businesses (and individuals) drag their feet on this matter. We need to act, now — or bad times lie ahead.