Sustainability Spotlight: Book Sale Keeps Books Out of Trash
If your spring cleaning includes paring down your book collection, Meredith’s Carlyle Campbell Library can help find new homes for these literary castoffs.
The library's ongoing book sale, which began in 2002, sells more than 1,000 books every year that might otherwise go in the trash. The books are sold for $1 each.
“The library receives many books it can't use and we knew that there were people in the Meredith community that would appreciate them,” said sale coordinator Ted Waller, the library’s head of technical services. “We came up with the book sale idea to benefit both recipients and the many worthwhile causes at Meredith.”
All proceeds from the sale go to support fundraisers held by Meredith student organizations. Recipients include Books for Asia, Komen Race for the Cure, 24 Hour Dance-a-thon for the Make a Wish Foundation, the Meredith International Association fundraiser for Heifer International, Habitat for Humanity, and the Meredith Social Work Club effort to send school supplies to Afghanistan. Funds have also been donated to Meredith’s Class of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
“It's a real win-win-win-win situation. Library users get books for very little money, campus fundraisers get support, the College doesn't have to pay money to dispose of the books, and the environment is spared a large volume of trash,” Waller said.
Donated materials are first considered for possible addition to the library collection before they go in the book sale. Donors will also receive a Meredith gift acknowledgment letter that can be used at tax time.
Waller said the only materials that aren’t accepted are out-of-date textbooks and very old fiction. Non-book materials, except for out-of-date formats like LPs, audiocassettes and videocassettes, are also accepted.
“Anyone can donate by bringing their materials to the library,” Waller said. “If someone has a large quantity, more than a box or so, we prefer that you call ahead.”
Books that aren’t added to the library’s collection or sold in the book sale are donated to Better World Books.
“They either sell them, recycle them, or send them to areas of the world that desperately need books,” Waller said. “We probably send them about 1,000 books a year.”
Visit betterworldbooks.com/Impact/default.aspx for more information.
Pilot Project in Admissions Leads to New Recycling Program
By Stefanie Gregory, ’09
A pilot program led by Meredith’s Admissions department began in January to assess some new recycling efforts being made on campus. Admissions staff members Kirk Nuss and Lillian Mallia in collaboration with housekeepers Marilyn Lucas and Edna Gregory were key leaders of the effort.
In Admissions’ second floor office, a system was piloted in which desk-side recycling baskets were emptied alongside trash cans. Meanwhile, the third floor processing division of Admissions experimented with placing a set of recycling bins and a trash can in the center of their office rather than in each occupant’s workspace. This made each member responsible for depositing their own trash and recyclables at the central area. Both systems experienced notable success.
“I would like to extend thanks to Marilyn Lucas and Edna Gregory who have been pivotal in the pilot program,” said Nuss.
Sustainability Coordinator Laura Fieselman said, “When I arrived, the campus community was very excited and immediately highlighted recycling as one key sustainability concern.”
With the help of the Green Team, formed in Fall 2008 as an informal advisory group for Meredith’s sustainability work, the decision was made to focus on recycling issues during 2008-09.
“Recycling falls under the more broad category of waste reduction,” says Fieselman, “which considers both recycling – diverting waste that can be remanufactured – and source reduction. Source reduction is lessening the amount of waste that enters, in our case, Meredith College campus.”
Meredith, unlike many campuses, uses a locally owned and operated business, American Recyclers, to accept recyclables. “We first focused on clarifying exactly what can be recycled, and made this information available to the community,” Fieselman said. “I worked with Aaron Schettler, grounds manager, and Bill Wade, vice president for business and finance, to identify and order over 150 new recycling bins to augment those currently available.”
According to Fieselman, research has shown that in order to achieve effective recycling, every trash receptacle must be paired with a recycling bin for customer convenience. To facilitate this at Meredith, 500 more small blue recycling bins were ordered for the campus. They have been placed in every residence hall room and office.
Fieselman said campus community members had struggled with Meredith’s practice of having housekeeping staff empty office trash cans daily, but leaving the responsibility of emptying recycling baskets to each office occupant. A desire to clear up this issue led to the Admissions office pilot project.
The success of the pilot project led to recycling changes in February 2008. The Facilities Services management team decided to move to one-day per week pick-up of desk-side recycling instead of trash service. During the spring of 2009, Housekeeping will be experimenting with Thursdays as recycling day.
“I would like to thank Steve Plocki Housekeeping Manager, Kris Householder and William Cooper, shift supervisors, and the entire staff for their cooperation and excitement for the new campus recycling efforts; Aaron Schettler, grounds manager, and Harold Miller for their continued support and Aubrey Chapman and Le’Quan Walsh for their help with distributing bins; Carrie Stinchcomb, Office of Sustainability intern, for her diligent work and Tom Sherry, Harry Cadman and Patty Blackwell in Facilities Services for their knowledge and support,” said Fieselman.
For an updated list on what items can be recycled, check out the sustainability web site at www.meredith.edu/sustainbility/recycling/htm.
Céline Cousteau, Ocean Futures Society international project coordinator, will give Meredith College’s 2009 Woman of Achievement lecture on April 22, at 7 p.m. in Jones Auditorium. Cousteau’s lecture is titled “People and the Natural World: An Exploration of Connection.”