21 dedicated and hardy souls braved the cold and wind of a blustery Tuesday afternoon to collect trash/recyclables from around the outdoor sports area of the campus.

most of the clean-up group

It was amazing just how much trash was collected. And there is still a lot more out there. Surprisingly, out of all of this, there was only one small bag of material that could be recycled.

Todd Horton with his pickup filled with trash

Many campus groups were represented, including Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association (co-sponsors of this event), International Student Association, Student Veterans Association at Parkland, Service Learning, Parkland Reads, and Sustainable Campus Committee. There were also students from a Biology 104 class as well as from Gina Walls’ SOC 101 class.

students from Sociology 101

Afterwards, most of the group headed back to the Gallery Lounge for a satisfying dinner of sandwiches, chips, cookies and drinks – all generously provided by Student Life.

llinois Professional Land Surveyors Association, Sustainable Campus Committee and Parkland Reads are sponsoring one more Clean-Up on Tuesday, April 21 from 3 – 5 pm. We’ll again be meeting at the bleachers near the track.

We hope to see you then!

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Fusing plastic bags

Here’s a neat idea for reusing plastic bags. I like the idea of sewing up the “fabric” to make grocery totes. If you try it, post your results here and remember to keep a window open while you fuse!

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Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging, a multi-year initiative designed to alleviate “wrap rage,” features recyclable boxes that are easy to open and free of excess materials such as hard plastic clamshell cases, plastic bindings, and wire ties. The product itself is exactly the same—we’ve just streamlined the packaging.  – 11/3/08

19 packages converted, 90 million to go.

They’ve also launched other projects across the company to reduce waste and save energy.

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Elizabeth Royte passed along information about a couple of programs that may be of interest. Cut and pasted from a recent email:

Here’s something on RecycleBank, the program that gives vouchers for goods in exchange for recyclables. Some communities with Recycle Bank include:

• Wilmington, Delaware (first full city program, reached 95% participation and 40% diversion)
• Everett, Massachusetts (went from 95 to 825 lbs/HH/yr.)
• Cherry Hill, New Jersey (uses a community reward model instead of the individual incentives [I really like this])
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1st community to test Recycle Bank in 2004).

RecycleBank is now in 10 states and claims that the communities using this system are averaging a 40% landfill diversion rate.

People who are interested in sustainability issues might want to sign up for e-mail from the Grassroots Recycling Network (grrn.org). They have a list called GreenYes (it’s listed in the left-side nav bar on the home page) where people write in with questions, experts lurk, answer, debate. They cover all kinds of recycling, EPR, composting, language for local ordinances, etc. It’s a searchable database and it made reporting Garbage Land a whole lot easier. I highly recommend it.

Cheers,

Elizabeth

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Elizabeth Royte, me and a Big Pile of Mushroom Compost in Champaign, Illinois.

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Thank you, Parkland Reads, for that awakening presentation today by Garbage Land author Elizabeth Royte! As someone unacquainted with exactly what ecological footprint I’m leaving behind for future generations, I greatly appreciated having this opportunity to begin giving it an honest examination.

Boy, can this woman talk some serious trash! Royte was articulate and thorough; you could tell she’s been giving this lecture to quite a few audiences over the past three years. Her accompanying PowerPoint accurately followed the intriguing course of the book, taking us from her initial guilt-tinged question six years ago, “where does my trash actually go?” to her trek alongside her neighborhood sanitation workers (I wondered what Sullivan actually looked like); her attempt to sneak a peek around the Bethlehem Steel landfill; her hair-raising adventures through salt marshes loaded with crap; and her enlightening exploration of waste management facilities. (Americans seem to be managing their wastes, for sure…but not so well.)

Royte’s gentle, matter-of-fact way of speaking, sprinkled with touches of humor, kept the audience both amused and alarmed during each phase of her journey. She weaved for us a smart pattern of national statistics on American consumption and waste accumulation; evidence of the advantages of reducing, reusing, and recycling; and practical tips (replete with media resources) on how we can reduce our own garbage footprint. It was comforting to see concerned students, such as the nursing students who were there, asking Royte specific questions about what they can do to decrease their lifestyle toll on the planet.

OK, I confess to not having before recycled my plastic bottles, only my aluminum cans–Royte has made a new convert today! (Still am a bit fearful of food scrap composting, however, due to the vermin that are attracted to it–raccoons terrify me!) Consider the Parkland Reads presentation, and the lunch that followed, a huge success!

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The blazing sun and freakish September heat did not stop 44 determined volunteers from attending the first ever Parkland Reads Clean-Up yesterday afternoon. The Clean-Up was hosted in honor of the book Garbage Land: on the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte. The author, who will be appearing at Parkland on October 16th, writes about the importance of waste-control and what really happens when we throw things away. After reading this eye-opening book, the Parkland Library Staff decided what better way to commemorate the book then to host a Clean-Up of the grounds of Parkland College.

Split into three teams, the fluorescent-clad volunteers spent an hour picking up litter in different areas of campus. The teams graciously gave up their time and effort to help beautify our campus, and they did a fantastic job. After the Clean-Up was over, a sweaty group returned to the meeting spot for some well deserved snacks.

Parkland students hard at work

The trash that was collected was not an overwhelming amount, but still more than was expected. This morning the exterior of campus was looking especially gorgeous, and we hope to keep it that way! We plan to tackle the interior of Parkland on the next Clean-Up, which will be held on October 24th from 3-4 PM. In the meantime, we applaud everyone who does their share in keeping the campus looking nice and urge everyone else to do the same.

The end result of the garbage collected

A special thank-you to the Library Staff/Parkland Reads for planning this event, Sherry Cmiel for coordinating the event, John Eby for providing supplies and snacks, Gregory Walburg for providing vests, Jonathon Ross for lending a hand in bag removal, Jodi Littleton for public relations, Wendy Patriquin for recruiting her ESL class, and to Stephanie Yousef for recruiting extra volunteers. Also thanks to the Office of the President, the Sustainable Campus Initiative, Student Government, Rotaract Club, Muslim Student Organization, and all other students/faculty/staff who were able to attend the event.

The Clean-Up Crew

For more information on getting involved with the next Clean-Up and/or other volunteer opportunities, please contact Marsha Reardon at 353-3302.

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Copies of Elizabeth Royte’s captivating book are available for checkout at Champaign Public Library and Parkland Library.  If you fancy your own copy, buy one at the Parkland College Bookstore and get a 20% discount.  You can even have it signed by the author after her talk at Champaign Public Library on October 15 or at Parkland on October 16.

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