On Tuesday, the Boston College Management Consulting Club, along with EcoPledge and Facilities Management, took Green Week back to the basics. In a town-hall style meeting, representatives from the three organizations presented their plans to increase recycling and sustainability at BC.
Following presentations by the school's current recycling vendor, Adam Mitchell of "Save that Stuff," and EcoPledge's Elizabeth Barthelmes, A&S '11, the program opened up to a general discussion that involved faculty, staff, and students.
"Everyday I walk by garbage bins filled with cans and bottles, which is a sign something clearly needs to be done," Ian Fitzmorris, A&S '12, said. "I want to know what can be done to encourage people to recycle and what can be done for sustainability on campus."
"I walk by trash receptacles every day and see items that should have been recycled," said Deirdre Manning, director of sustainability and energy management. Manning also said that there are many solutions to this problem, including personal responsibility. "Having peers educate each other to prevent this from happening would be ideal."
Kristin Borrero, CSOM '11, whose consulting team organized the presentation, also said that education is important in relation to sustainability practices. "Overall, accountability, education, and access to information are three important areas in terms of recycling on campus," Borrero said.
Apart from a video presentation from Mitchell and Barthelmes' lecture on the do's and don'ts of recycling at BC, the program was almost entirely geared toward student perspective.
"We hosted this event mostly to get student input and perspective on some of the issues with recycling on campus so that going forward we know some areas that we can work on," Borrero said. "It was great to not only have a lecture type event but to really include the students to get them talking about this issue in a setting of people who are working to improve recycling."
Many of the issues brought up and questions asked by audience members concerned the improvement of recycling and the necessity of sustainability practices on campus; topics ranged from late-night and take-out containers to composting in upperclassmen's dorms.
"We look to minimize the impact of University operations on the environment. We also coordinate with other departments across campus to do the same on the operations side. We look to raise awareness among students and faculty with the goal of integrating sustainable initiatives in everyday life activities and into the curriculum," Manning said.
Manning said that huge improvements have been made in energy conservation and sustainability practices on campus.
"BC has dramatically increased campus awareness of recycling over the past year, with great efforts by dining and facilities," Barthelmes said. "Facilities programs, such as Recyclemania and the dorm NRG Competition, have also increased student awareness of sustainability and their own waste and energy impacts."
At the same time, these organizations understand that there is a need for improvement with sustainability practices on campus.
"Some areas need improvement, such as making sure there are recycling bins in all appropriate locations and reducing the amount of plastic containers used, but recycling visibility has helped spur discussion and get people involved with these issues," Barthelmes said.
Manning said more can always be done to generate a more eco-friendly campus. "We would like to increase the amount recycled from close to 40 percent to 50 percent," she said. "We would also like to improve our performance in RecycleMania, a nationwide collegiate competition to promote recycling. We are currently in first place among ACC schools but there are many other categories we could improve upon and perhaps run away with the ACC title. I'd like to see every student, and member of faculty and staff make recycling a part of his or her everyday routine."
As both the organizers and the participants of the program said, sustainability at BC should not be merely a short-term project. Barthelmes believes that creating a sustainable campus now will lead to continued practice once the Master Plan takes effect.
"The Master Plan includes a number of sustainable facility commitments, but we must make sure to extend these to student programs," Barthelmes said. "Boston College has the resources and interest, and should utilize them to create a campus community that goes beyond meeting standards, to one that sets examples."
The concept of a green BC is one that these groups share with unmitigated optimism. Their vision of a sustainable campus may seem optimistic but is vital in today's society.
"In the next few years, I think it will be pertinent for Boston College to become dedicated to the goals of sustainability if it wants to compete as an institution and to provide its students with a complete Jesuit education," Barthelmes said. "To do so, they should work to model this on campus. The paradigm is shifting, and understanding sustainability is now a crucial component to jobs, politics, and simply, civic duty."
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