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Going GreenBaylor launches ambitious environmental program
By Meg Cullar
Baylor is adding a lot more green to the green and gold these days. In
fact, the university set a recycling record in 2007 with more than 160
tons of recycled paper and cardboard. But the biggest difference is
coming in the way Baylor is approaching environmentalist efforts—by
getting organized.
 The
new University Sustainability Committee—appointed by Baylor President
John Lilley last fall—is working to coordinate efforts campus wide.
Pattie Orr, vice president for information technology and dean of
libraries, is chair of the committee. "What it really comes down to is
that we should be good stewards of what God has given us and of the
resources that we have," Orr said.
Orr (pictured with a residence-hall recycling can) came to Baylor last
fall, and during her first walk-through of the libraries, she was
astonished that the public-access printers did not have duplexers to
allow users to print double-sided pages. By spending about $3,000 to
upgrade the library's printers, the university has saved half a million
sheets of paper in five months. It's an approach that's been very
popular with the students, who have to pay for the paper they use.
When Lilley's executive council—which includes vice presidents and
deans—received several requests that the university develop an ecology
plan, the library was already getting positive attention for those
changes. So Lilley asked Orr to head a new committee, promising support
from other areas. It would take a true coordinated effort, Orr said.
"For example, the recycling funding came through the risk management
area," she said. "And we needed to negotiate new contracts through the
procurement department, and we needed input from those in residence
halls, dining services, and housekeeping. Everyone agreed, and it's
been great."
Orr's twenty-person committee started with the recycling effort,
developing a multi-phase plan. The first phase was complete in January
with the deployment of 420 recycling containers—one on every floor of
every residence hall. Students can deposit plastic, paper, and aluminum
cans in the same container, and the housekeeping staff empties them
daily into recycling dumpsters behind the buildings, where Sunbright
Paper Recycling picks up the materials.
"What we're really doing is re-arranging our trash," Orr said. "If you
throw a Dr Pepper bottle into the trash, it takes up a certain amount
of space. And when you send it to the landfill, they charge us. But
every time we send recycling to Sunbright, who is our recycler, they
pay us a certain amount. We just needed to get the containers all
across campus."
Next on the recycling agenda, and currently underway, is an effort to
place bins in indoor public areas such as the Bill Daniel Student
Center, the Student Life Center, and the libraries. Next officials will
tackle all office and academic areas, which will require a walk-through
of every office on campus and collaboration with staff and faculty to
see what is most practicable. Then the university will turn to the
outdoor spaces and athletic venues.
"A lot of efforts have been started before," Orr noted. "It's important
to take the time to develop a sustainability plan that is itself
sustainable. We're trying to do it in a way that will endure."
Previous efforts have been led by a number of groups and committees,
with significant progress coming from student groups. The Eco Club,
which has been around since the 1970s, has operated recycling bins
behind the Goebel Environmental Sciences Building for several years.
That is still the only place on campus to deposit glass for recycling.
Baylor's dining facilities, which have been recycling paper and
cardboard containers for some time, donate about 250 pounds per week of
used coffee grounds to Waco's World Hunger Farm, where the grounds are
used for composting. "In catering, we have reduced paper usage by 70
percent by using white boards instead of paper," said Dave Thiel, food
service manager for Baylor Dining Services. "We actually have our own
sustainability plan, but the new committee has been very effective in
pulling together the whole campus."
The university has been recycling to some extent for the past ten
years, according to Andy Trimble, grounds and general services manager
for Baylor Facility Services. But in 1998, the university recycled only
17.89 tons, compared to last year’s 160. Trimble keeps a monthly record
of recycling tonnage, and for the first two months of 2008 the tonnage
nearly tripled from the same period in 2007.
"It's truly amazing what can happen when everyone pulls together on a
common goal," Trimble said. "A lot of credit goes to Pattie Orr and the
Baylor Sustainability Committee—plus the students, faculty, staff, and
employees of Baylor Housekeeping, Baylor Dining Services, and Baylor
Facility Services—who work together to make this all work each day."
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