Greening the Library

Every office has its struggles with going green, whether it’s breaking people of bad habits (no, gum does not go in the blue bin) or encouraging new ones (Bring Your Coffee Mug to Work Day).  What most workplaces will tell you is to start small– even the most well-intentioned among us can’t transition from slovenly wastrel to Al Gore overnight.

Here in the Library, we started with something very simple and pretty uncontroversial:  getting rid of the Styrofoam cups in the break room.  Styrofoam, is of course, the bete noir of ecology movement, but despite its bad rap, it’s still widely used and seen as indispensable.  The cups are cheap and an easy solution for a workplace that wants to keep their employees well-caffeinated (and, despite the complete non-biodegradability of Styrofoam cups,  they are actually a more environmentally sound choice than paper cups, which take significantly more energy to make).  But who doesn’t have two, three, twelve extra mugs taking up space in their kitchen cabinet (if you don’t, let me know– I’ve got a few to spare)?  We used up the last of our Styrofoam cups and moved easily into drinking our beverages of choice out of our own cups, mugs and Mason jars.

That’s the behind the scene change in the Library– we have even more happening out in public for the benefit of our students, faculty, staff, and community members.  Here’s a few highlights from our own little Green movement:

• Save the world, save some cash. The Library and our coffeeshop, Arbor Vitae, are now selling reusable travel mugs.  These cups not only help save the environment by reducing the number of paper cups in the trash, but they also help save our patrons money!  With every purchase of a stylish mug, the customer gets a free cup of coffee and a lifetime of $1.00 refills.
• We’ll show you where to stick it. When we asked our students what they wanted for the Library, many of them told us they wanted more recycling bins!  We listened and added dozens of new paper and container recycling bins as well as additional garbage cans.  The new bins are clearly labeled and not hidden in off-the-beaten-path places like our old ones were.
• Carry-home luggage. For our library patrons who like to read more than they can carry, we’ve always provided a sturdy plastic bag with our logo on the front.  Do any of those bags get reused or recycled?  Maybe just a small percentage.  Following the lead of supermarkets everywhere, the Library will be stocking up on reusable cloth bags.  Like our great new travel mugs, these will be available for sale in the Arbor Vitae Library Cafe.  We also hope to purchase some sturdy canvas bags that can be checked out at the Circulation Desk and returned with your books, CDs and DVDs.  Keep an eye on the Library blog to find out when these great bags will be available.

We’re pretty excited about these fairly simple changes that we’ve made– and we hope our patrons are, too.

What simple changes can you make that can have a big impact on the environment– at home or at C.O.D.?