Beverage Container Laws Expanding in Several States

When bottled water first appeared on product shelves, I initially thought it was a waste of money. I held off for a long time. Eventually, like many of you, I saw the relatively small investment as a fair exchange for the convenience of portability. It was an attractive lure. I bit. And I bought. And bought. And bought.

Millions of beverage bottles end up littering the landscape.

Now that I’m deeply steeped in environmental issues, I have come to understand the disaster of bottled water. Aside from questions about the quality of the water and the safety of the plastic bottles themselves — significant issues, for sure — there’s the problem of waste. Millions of plastic water bottles get tossed in our waterways, lie smashed on our roads, litter our green spaces, or end up in our landfills. In the best-case scenario, they get recycled into other products.

But recycling is less frequent than one might think. When most container laws (often referred to as “bottle bills”) were first enacted about a quarter of a century ago, personal-sized bottled water was unheard of. (If there was such a thing, it’s safe to say that the majority of consumers didn’t know about it.) Today, water bottles and other non-carbonated beverage containers make up a huge proportion of the beverage-container waste stream.

In the US, only 11 states have bottle laws at all, and fewer still include water and other non-carbonated beverage containers. With so many states as hold-outs, you might well wonder whether container recycling laws are effective. Do they keep trash off the roads? Do they have any other economic or environmental benefits to the states that have them? Consider this statement from a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation press release (January 21, 2009):

“Since the original Bottle Bill was enacted in 1982 requiring a five-cent deposit on beer and carbonated drinks, roadside litter has been reduced 70 percent. More than 90 billion containers and 6 million tons of glass, aluminum and plastic have been recycled, resulting in saving more than 50 million barrels of oil and eliminating 5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases - a sum equal to getting 600,000 cars off the road for one year.”

But that’s just recycling of beer and carbonated beverage containers. What about adding water, juice, and tea containers as well? Does expanding the law make much of a difference? Do consumers actually make the effort to turn in their empty water bottles, juice bottles, or energy-drink cans?

A financial incentive encourages consumers to return their empty bottles, rather than litter.

AHEAD OF THE CURVE

For the past two days, I’ve been researching which states currently have bottle laws and, of those, which include water and other non-carbonated beverages. Four states that I know of have included water bottles in their bottle laws: Hawaii, Oregon, Connecticut, and Maine.

I asked Amelia Hicks, Environmental Health Specialist for Hawaii’s Department of Health about her state’s deposit beverage container program. She said, “We’re working to capture as many beverage containers as Hawaii’s Bottle Bill will allow for redemption, including new energy drinks and workout beverages. By providing a financial incentive to encourage recycling, the Program effectively diverts millions [of] beverage containers away from the waste stream each year. Hawaii’s Bottle Bill law currently includes containers for beer, mixed spirits, mixed wine, coffee & teas, carbonated soft drinks, and water. In general, we are finding that water bottles make up a large portion of the plastic bottles being recycled at the redemption centers. Our redemption rate for 2008 was 72%, a large portion of which may be water bottles.”

Peter Spendelow, Environmental Specialist at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality said, “Water bottles are covered under Oregon’s Beverage Container Act, but only since January 1, 2009. The amendment was passed as a compromise between those who wanted to add containers for juices, teas, energy drinks, and the like, and those who did not want to add any containers at all.” Another work session is scheduled for Thursday of this week to once again discuss proposed amendments to the container law.

Ilicia Balaban, Issue Associate for Connecticut Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) told me that the governor recently signed legislation expanding the state’s container law to include bottled water. The law goes into effect April 1 of this year.

According to the Maine Department of Agriculture website, the state’s bottle laws apply to all beverages. “ ‘Beverage’ means beer, ale or other drink produced by fermenting malt, spirits, wine, wine coolers, soda or non-carbonated water and all nonalcoholic carbonated or non-carbonated drinks in liquid form and intended for internal human consumption, except for unflavored rice milk, unflavored soy milk, milk and dairy-derived products…. Maine was one of the first of eleven states in the country to have a Returnable Beverage Container Law. When one looks at the history of success with the Bottle Bill, one cannot help but wonder why it isn’t a standard rather than an exception.”

STALWART STATES

The other seven states that have long-standing bottle bill laws do not include water bottles at this time, though legislation is pending in several states:

Water bottles make up a large proportion of the trash we dispose of every day.

In Delaware, Bill Miller of the DNREC Solid Waste & Hazardous Waste Management told me, “Our bottle bill is 25 years old, and a lot has changed since it was written. Today, a big percentage of the market is water, juice, and tea bottles. I haven’t seen any draft legislation, but this is something we talk about a lot. I would like to see these items included in our Beverage Container Regulation.”

Greg Cooper, Director of Consumer Programs at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection informed me that, in his latest budget, the governor proposed to expand the 1983 bottle statute to include containers for water, juice, teas, and other non-carbonated beverages. The Legislature must approve it, of course, but the hope is that the expansion will become law in July.

Vermont has no pending legislation regarding non-carbonated beverage containers, according to Cathy Stacy, an administrator with the state’s Solid Waste Division.

Howard Heideman, Administrator, Tax Analysis Division, Office of Revenue and Tax Analysis, Michigan Department of Treasury, told me by email, “Michigan’s container deposit law applies only [to] carbonated beverages. Legislation has been introduced to include non-carbonated beverages: Senate Bill 54, sponsored by Sen. Michael Switalski. Last year, Rep. Mark Meadows introduced a similar bill, and may reintroduce it this year.”

Bill Blum, Program Planner for Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources, reports that HF 150 proposes expanding Iowa’s existing container law to include water bottles, glass tea bottles, power drink containers, and other non-carbonated beverages. “The bill is no longer viable because of legislative deadlines. It was assigned to a subcommittee on February 2nd. Anything can happen, but there’s not a lot of activity on it right now,” he said.

That brings me back to New York and that January 21, 2009 press release I mentioned:

“New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis today urged support of the ‘Bigger Better Bottle Bill,’ saying it would reduce litter, keep million[s] of containers out of our landfills, help in the fight against global warming and generate badly needed revenue.

“Grannis noted that a flaw in the current law is that the five-cent deposit applies only to beer and carbonated beverages. In his 2009-10 Executive Budget, Governor Paterson has proposed expanding the law to apply to non-carbonated beverages.

” ‘It makes no sense to continue to differentiate these containers based on their contents — especially with non-carbonated drinks now making up more than one-quarter of the beverage market,’ Grannis said. ‘An expanded bottle bill also will keep New York’s roadsides, waterways and parks cleaner. Right now, too many plastic and glass containers end up as trash in our parks, playgrounds, rivers and lakes. And this problem will continue to grow as people buy more water and sports drinks.’

“Grannis cited a 2005 study by the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency that found that while 80 percent of plastic soda bottles are recycled, just 16 percent of plastic water bottles are recovered.”

COMING SOON

If you’ve read this far, you’re probably already a supporter of bottle bills. You know, as I do, that a water bottle is essentially no different than a plastic soda bottle. It still becomes litter when thrown on the ground. It still breaks down into minute particles that add to water pollution and kill tiny sea life. It still required precious resources in its manufacture.

For years, only a few states have had bottle laws on their books, but change is coming. In addition to the revisions proposed regarding which types of containers are covered, several additional states are working to pass new bottle bills: Florida, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Floating bottles eventually break down to microscopic particles that kill tiny sea life.

If you’re a resident of a state (or nation) that currently has a bottle law, be sure to thank your legislators. Let them know you support keeping the laws in place — and applaud those who have had the wisdom to revise the law to include water, juice, tea, and energy drinks.

But what if you don’t have a bottle law in place? You can still take action. Start by learning all you can about the bottle laws in other locales. A great site for a state-by-state and country-by-country overview is BottleBill.org. To be sure you have the latest scoop, however, contact your state officials directly. (To those of you in other countries, my apologies that this post is so self-focused. Feel free to write and let us know about your own laws.) Then let your legislators know what you want: a bottle bill that covers all types of beverage containers.

There’s even a growing movement to create a national bottle bill, which would simplify the redemption process and improve litter across the country. Want to find out more? Check Care2’s petition site. Then take action. Sign the petition. Let your senators and representatives know that you support a nationwide bottle bill. (You do — don’t you?)

Julia Wasson

Blue Planet Green Living (Home Page)

Swishing – A New Green Craze for Frugal Fashionistas

“That’s so cute! Where did you get that?”

We’ve all said it to our friends, admiring a blouse, a skirt, a purse, or a pair of shoes. And they’ve said it to us. But we all get tired of our own clothes after a while. Instead of running out to the store to pick up a new item for yourself, consider swishing — swapping before shopping — as an environmentally friendly way to get those super-adorable clothes your friends own. Swishing is easy to do, and a fun way to enhance your wardrobe without spending a dime.

Potirala checks out the clothes before her swishing party.

THE BASICS

The traditional dictionary definition of swishing is “to rustle, as silk.” But Futerra Sustainability Communications, a group advocating for environmentalism through swishing, has redefined the word to mean “to rustle clothes from friends.” Swishing has become a major trend in London, and swishing parties are making their way across the ocean to the United States.

Swishing parties in the U.S. are most commonly found in New York and other metropolitan areas. These parties are known as Swap-O-Rama-Rama workshops and are defined as “where a community explores creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing.” Sound boring? It’s anything but!

Swishing is a great way to prevent older clothes from ending up in the landfill, and it’s really quite simple. If you’re in the UK, you can find times and places of organized swishes on the official Swishing website. If you’re in the US, go to the Swap-O-Rama-Rama website. All you have to do to attend a swishing party is bring at least one piece of fine quality clothing (no rips, holes, or stains allowed), a pair of shoes, or accessories pulled from the corner of the closet you no longer visit. Of course, you are always more than welcome to bring more than one article of clothing. While brand-name garments are great to trade and to receive, it’s not at all a requirement.

Considering a possible swishing find. Photo: Sabrina Potirala

Typically, the host serves drinks and food before the swish. Guests can use this time to check out the items that have been collected. Once the swishing begins, it’s a free-for-all. You can leave with as many items as you can get your hands on, but you are not allowed to claim any items before the swish opens. The more people that attend, the more stuff you’ll get!

Typically, at least one organized swish occurs every month. But you shouldn’t feel limited to large-scale, organized swishing parties, because you are more than welcome to host your own. That way, you can keep all the clothes that no one else claims after the party ends, or donate them to charity if you’d like.

I hosted my own party as a way of encouraging friends and acquaintances to become more environmentally friendly about their used clothes. It’s so easy, anyone can do it.

MY SWISHING PARTY

What about this one? Photo: Sabrina Potirala

Preparing for an evening of swishing is relatively simple and stress free. Since swishing is intended to be a party, I decided to make it feel like one by sending out invitations. Because the success of the party relies on how many people attend, I made sure to specifically include in the invitation that my guests could bring as many people as they wanted.

As a university student, I’m always busy, so I took a simple approach and just made out a general invitation with the date, place, and time. If you are going to host your own party, you can spruce up the invitation in any way you want. Or, to make it a bit easier on yourself, you can download a pre-made invitation from Swishing.org.

Once I had established the date, time, and number of guests, I collected clothes from guests from a few days to a few hours before the party. About three hours before the swish, I began to display the clothes I had collected. Because of tight space, I had to get a bit creative with laying out the clothes. I hung dresses on hangers from nails in the wall, sprawled clothes over couches and tables, and placed shoes in a single line in the hallway. I even hung clothes on the shower curtain rod.

Swishing expands your wardrobe without costing a dime. Photo: Sabrina Potirala

To make the swish a bit more organized, I separated clothes based on function: formal and casual clothes, dresses, and shoes all ended up in different locations. Nothing about how you place the clothes has to be professional, though, because in a few hours people will be rummaging through things like mad.

I started my swishing party with drinks and snacks that were easy to prepare ahead of time. Although many people who host swishing parties prefer to serve wine, I took the cheaper route and decided to share Kool-Aid and fruit punch with my guests. It might seem silly, but these drinks are far from bland. I spruced mine up by playfully serving them in real wine glasses and by mixing flavors to create something that tasted “exotic.”

Because I didn’t want to worry about baking treats prior to the party, I bought chips, popcorn, and other simple snacks. To play up the store-bought goodies, I put jelly beans and individually wrapped chocolates in larger glasses, so each guest could have their own. It doesn’t really matter what you serve for snacks — or what you serve them in. Use whatever you have. Make it easy on yourself and have some fun.

Cool shoes! And they're hardly worn. Photo: Sabrina Potirala

When my guests arrived at 7 p.m., I allotted 30 minutes for conversation and snacking. This was also the time when people could sift through the clothes to pick out things they wanted to go for ahead of time. About five minutes before officially opening the swish, I gave a warning so everyone could prepare themselves, followed by a five-second countdown when the time for browsing was over.

This dress still has the price tag on. Photo: Sabrina Potirala

When the swish opened, people were running around all over the place to get what they wanted. But because we were more of an intimate group than larger, organized swishes tend to be, it wasn’t terribly hectic, and nobody needed to worry about getting trampled over a cute pair of shoes. At the end of the swish, everyone had claimed something new that they loved, and some even walked away with brand-new outfits. It’s certainly an experience won’t soon forget, and because I had so much fun, I plan to host another in the future.

BE GREEN AND SAVE GREEN

Buying new clothing is overrated. The cost of sweaters, purses, shoes, and jeans can add up quickly. Too often, we end up not liking some of those items we “just had to buy.” Before they’re barely worn — or with price tags still on — they get tossed in the trash or neglected in the back of a closet. Swishing is a great way to give clothes and accessories away and get free items in return. Hey, there’s nothing better than free stuff! So get out there and throw a swishing party of your own

.

Sabrina Potirala

Contributing Writer

Blue Planet Green Living (Home Page)

Green Living — A Beginner’s Guide

If you’re just beginning your green journey, it may seem like there’s so much to catch up on: organic food, holistic medicine, natural fibers, hybrid vehicles, and so much more. In general, green living is about making changes to reduce the amounts of natural resources we humans use (and, more importantly, waste), and to becoming a caretaker of our remaining natural resources. It’s about working toward sustainability for our society and our planet.

Individual Americans use 100 to 176 gallons of water at home each day.

Historically, industrialized societies have acted as if resources and land were infinite — and burned through them with that mindset. We Americans use a relatively large amount of resources — much more than our fair share. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, “The average African family uses about 5 gallons of water each day, while the average American individual uses 100 to 176 gallons of water at home each day.”

The following statistics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and James Madison University provide a startling picture of Americans’ waste habits and the powerful effects of recycling:

• The average American family produces 100 pounds of trash per week, that’s 3 pounds of waste per person per day.
• More than 1 billion trees are used each year to make disposable diapers.
• Americans throw away about 10% of the food we buy at the supermarket. This results in dumping the equivalent of more than 21 million shopping bags full of food into landfills every year.
• In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times their adult weight in garbage. This means that a 150-pound adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 pounds of trash for their children.
• The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries estimates that more than 200 million trees are saved each year due to current recycling efforts.

1 ton of paper made from 100% recycled stock saves:

• 7,000 gallons of water (recycled paper uses 35% less water)
• 60 lbs. of air pollution effluent (recycled paper creates 74% less pollution)
• 4,000 kWh of energy
• 17 trees
• 3 cubic yards of landfill space
• $35 per ton of waste disposal fees

Avoid the Hype

As businesses realize there’s money to be saved by “going green,” they also realize there’s much money to be made by selling the green movement in a consumerist fashion. For example, I witnessed earlier this year many businesses giving away or selling so-called reusable shopping bags to customers. These polypropylene bags were hardly thicker than a plastic shopping bag and lasted about as long. That’s not helping anything but a company image. We have to get real — and that means distinguishing what’s really helping from what’s hype, and then making real changes.

Let’s keep this process focused on what it’s about: love for the Earth, respect for Earth’s resources, and keeping ecosystems functioning and abundant for Earth’s creatures and the generations to come.

Plant a Tree

Planting trees is one of the most impactful actions we can take to help restore balance to the Earth. Trees are incredible — sucking up carbon gases like gigantic sponges, creating habitats for innumerable creatures, purifying the air and water, building soil by the ton, feeding us with fruits and nuts, sheltering us from wind and sun, creating rainfall through transpiration, giving us timber and fiber to build our homes, heat them and make other products. They hold the soil together with mazes of roots, preventing it from washing away in rains. Our very lives and the life of the planet depend on trees.

Here are some tips to get you started with tree planting:

• Go Native. Native trees have evolved for millennia to be perfectly adapted to your area — withstanding bugs, drought, storms, and snow with ease. Trees also fit into the ecosystem with other native creatures, giving them shelter and food. I’ve noticed after large storms that nonnative trees are damaged much more severely than native varieties. Depending on your location, the native trees vary widely. In much of the US, oak trees, maples, birch, elm, hemlock, redwoods, red bud, poplars, walnuts, and chestnuts are all fine choices. A bit of quick research will tell you which trees are native to your area.

• Consider Fruit Trees. You can grow the best fruit you’ve ever tasted in your own backyard. Get trees from a local, reputable nursery that specializes in fruit trees. In temperate regions, such as the Midwest, you can grow native varieties of apples, plums, cherry, peaches, paw paw, pears, grapes, persimmon, walnuts, or mulberry. In warmer climates, go for avocado, citrus, carob, olive, pomegranate, almonds, pecans and dates. In tropical regions, choose coconut, cherimoya, guava, mango, soursop, bananas, rambutan, lychee, breadfruit and macadamia. Dwarf trees are genetically very small and can fit in nearly any back yard to produce bountiful fruit. Get healthy, medium-sized trees and follow growing directions found online or at the nursery. Nut trees are an excellent choice too, grow very big, and produce prodigious crops.

Buy Local Food

With peak oil looming around the corner, and the multinational corporation-based food system in serious question, supporting local farmers and food systems is critically important. Most supermarket fare is trucked in from across the US or around the globe, traveling thousands of miles in refrigerated trucks, to the great expense of petroleum and food quality. Without new technologies, it is an unsustainable system. And because food shipped long distances must be picked before it’s fully ripe, it often lacks the full flavor of its locally harvested counterparts. Fresh food tastes wonderful, and local food is thousands of miles fresher than food that travels long distances.

So what counts as local? Some definitions of “local” recommend staying within a hundred mile radius, and this is sensible.

Support local farmers by shopping at farmers' markets.

You can support hardworking local farmers in many ways. Farmers’ markets are a great option. They’re now popular throughout the US, and some are open throughout the year. Many health food stores sell delicious local produce. Online, you can find sources for local u-pick farms, specialty foods, meat and dairy products, honey, and other items. Every time I go food shopping, I buy local food. It’s the first step to reweaving the local food web. If the farmers stay farming, we stay fed. Try it — you’ll love the fresher, tastier, more distinct, and much more nutritious food.

Reduce Waste

Reducing waste isn’t just about recycling more and throwing away less. It’s also about the amount of disposable things you buy and use. This includes items such as shopping bags, plastic bottles, disposable razors, diapers, and cheap goods that will likely break soon.

Buy or make a sturdy, long-lasting shopping bag, or use a backpack when you go shopping. Obtain a quality metal or glass water bottle, and fill it with filtered tap water, instead of using imported, bottled water. Choose organic-cotton, cloth diapers to use at least part of the time, to help reduce waste from disposables. Always buy the best-quality goods that you can afford, and avoid flimsy, plastic goods that will soon be in the trash. In the long run, you’ll save money, while providing a better quality of life for yourself and your family.

Recycle

Recycling reduces the waste sent to landiflls.

Recycling is an absolute necessity. We all produce trash, and most of it is recyclable and valuable when reincarnated into a myriad of other items. If you don’t already recycle, it’s a very important step toward green living. If your local trash company does not provide recycling services, request them. Recycling is easy and fun, and brings about a sense of responsibility and accountability for what we use and where it ends up.

Compost

Hundreds of tons of biodegradable kitchen waste get lost in landfills every year. Consider starting a compost pile in your yard. Then you’ll have plenty of excellent fertilizer for the fruit tree you just planted. There are many resources online and in your local library on how to start a healthy, productive compost pile.

Make a Commitment

Going green is a process and a commitment. It’s a commitment to living healthier and more in harmony with our Mother Earth. But don’t expect to achieve a green lifestyle overnight. As philosopher Lao-Tzu wrote in the sixth century B.C.E., “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” So take one step at a time, if that’s all you can do. But begin your journey to green living today. It’s not that hard to do, and every bit you do makes a difference. So what are you waiting for?

Blake Cothron

Contributing Writer

Blue Planet Green Living (Home Page)

Notes from India: “Clean Lucknow, Green Lucknow”

I’ve spent my entire life in India, but have yet to see a trashcan anywhere on the streets. I guess that’s the reason why there’s a big pile of garbage at most street corners, especially in the residential areas. In some locations, however, the government hires street sweepers to clean the streets of garbage. My family, and others in our neighborhood in Lucknow, burn any garbage left on the street so there are no smells, no germs in the air, and no filth outside the house.

The hillsides are littered with trash. Photo: The Small House Society

Since we don’t have separate dumpsters for recycling, people carrying large plastic bags on their shoulders pick empty plastic bags and bottles, glass bottles, and other items from the piles of garbage on streets. These items are sold, then recycled. Since most of the empty plastic and glass bottles are used and reused for storing spices, creams, oils, food, and other items, they typically aren’t thrown away unless they’re broken.

Food leftovers are generally given to the maid of the house, or put out for cows, birds, or dogs on the streets to eat. But the sad part about this is that some people discard food leftovers or peelings in plastic bags, and unsuspecting cows or buffaloes eat through the plastic bags to get to the food. This can lead to sickness and death for the animals.

On the brighter side, it’s very encouraging to know that hill stations like Nainital and some others don’t allow use of plastic bags to discourage people from throwing it in the lake, which is the focus of tourist attraction.

City streets are covered with litter, and paan stains mar the walls. Photo: Makur Jain

Items not thrown out on the street — such as non-composting paper, metal, and some plastic garbage — are sold to a kabari (trash/garbage collector). The kabari then sells the items to someone who can sell them further or recycle them. Some of these kabari ride three-wheel bicycles through residential neighborhoods, stopping and buying recyclable materials, such as old newspapers, metal things, glass or plastic material, old appliances, etc., from people who call out to them.

The animal dung out on the streets continues to be a nuisance to the cleanliness and hygiene of the city. There was a time when the local milkmen would have small houses and pieces of land throughout the city. They kept their cows, buffaloes, and goats there, and used the gobar (dung) as fuel. They’d collect it, dry it, and make flat discs of it to be used as fuel to cook food. It was possible for them to do this, because the dung would be on their fields or on the nearby streets, where they could collect it.

Three-wheeled cars share the streets with cows in Lucknow. Photo: Small House Society

Ever since the government moved the milkmen out of the city, the stray cows’ dung on the streets just ends up on tires and shoes, and becomes a stench. Even if these wandering urban cows belonged to someone, it would be humanly impossible for the owner to keep track of them and collect the dung of his cows from the various streets they walk on. On a more positive note, there are gobar gas plants that allow the gas from gobar to be used as fuel.

One would be surprised to see the dumping grounds here. It’s a huge piece of land where the garbage is left for years to rot! But there’s good news also. Sometimes the government or the city’s development authority, for example the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), will press the garbage with road rollers into the ground for months, then cover it with mud or concrete. Then they sell that land as residential or commercial property - using garbage as landfill.

India has lush vegetation and abundant natural beauty. Photo: Makur Jain

Another form of garbage that can be seen all over India on walls, buses, streets, and many government offices is the remains of spit from paan (betel leaf). This tobacco spittle becomes our “social bookmarks.” It’s funny and ironic that every place or wall where it says थूकना मना है। (Do not spit), people make sure they spit on the word मना (not), so the remaining words are थूकना …है। (Do … spit).

The paan stains, as well as cigarette and bidi butts, are littered everywhere. But we’re making progress. The Supreme Court passed a law last year on October 2, prohibiting smoking in all public areas. The Delhi High Court has also banned smoking from being shown in movies.

What’s surprising is that a lot of people contribute toward a “greener India” without even knowing it. Since most cities have small markets in every neighborhood, people just have to walk a couple of blocks and can find almost everything one needs for day-to-day living, thus reducing the pollution from vehicles. Also, Delhi, Lucknow, and other cities have small three wheeler auto-rickshaws that run on compressed natural gas (CNG), which is more environmentally clean.

We are taking small steps in my country, but we are making progress. We are moving toward “Clean Lucknow, Green Lucknow” (the slogan painted on numerous railings, walls, buildings, etc.), and thus toward a greener India.

Makur Jain, Ph.D.

Contributing Writer

Blue Planet Green Living (Home Page)

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Dallas Cowboys Go Blue (with a Greener Stadium)

It’s time for Super Bowl XLIII, and the NFL is powering the entire event with renewable energy, as well as planting trees to offset carbon created by activities related to the big game. For 16 years, “going green” has been a part of planning and producing the Super Bowl. But the Super Bowl isn’t the only green venue in the NFL world.

Elizabeth Frisch, president of Culture Technologies

In a press release last October, the Dallas Cowboys, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced that the Cowboys were on a path “to be the first sports stadium to gain recognition in the EPA’s National Environmental Performance Track program.” This bold action is in conjunction with the design and construction of the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, which will be open for business in Arlington, Texas next summer.

The Cowboys hired Culture Technologies, Inc., led by Elizabeth Frisch, to help implement the EPA program at their new stadium. In a recent interview with Frisch, she described several of the issues the stadium design and construction teams will consider as they begin their EMS. This is part 2 of a two-part interview with Frisch about her work at Culture Technologies.

FRISCH: The Cowboys had decided they wanted to join the National Environmental Performance Track. This is a U.S. EPA environmental recognition program that requires you to put in an environmental management system (EMS) and continually improve and measure your environmental performance, year after year.

For the Cowboys, this isn’t just, We’re putting in a green building, or We’re putting in a green product; this is an entire process. It’s infinite. As long as the system is in place, it drives continual improvement, so every year you raise the bar and take on something more. It’s a very robust and powerful model, if done correctly. We had been recommended to the Cowboys because of our reputation in making culture changes leading to performance improvement.

Greening the Dallas Cowboys Stadium will require a cultural change for fans used to littering the parking lot.

BPGL: Was this move prompted by a desire to save money?

FRISCH: The new stadium will hold up to 90,000 people at one time. That’s an entire city sitting in one spot for an extended period of time — and consuming food and beverages. The Cowboys management said, “We want to save money. This new stadium is going to kill us with utility costs and consumption. And we know we’re not doing certain things efficiently.”

So, we audited a playoff game last November. We looked at how the fans, the employees, the contractors, the vendors, and everyone who came in and out of that stadium during a game used it. We looked at the behaviors that are driving the footprint consumption, as well as what they’re consuming. It’s different from a utility audit, where a consultant just goes out and tells you how to save money. We do culture change, behavior-based audits. We actually stood in the bathroom and watched how people used the space, what their habits were. We asked people questions, like, “Why did you throw this here?” There’s also a lot of social thought that goes into such an audit, to determine why the behavior is happening.

Once we identify behaviors, such as discarding paper, we track the discarded item’s movement from that point on. We do it both from a recycling and an energy-consumption standpoint.

BPGL: What other activities did you look at?

FRISCH: We looked at utilities and any kind of resource consumption — whether it be paper, food, or even people’s time. We also looked at how traffic comes in and out; the longer a car idles, the more emissive it is. It’s about getting the highest level of efficiency around consuming each resource.

Tailgating is a "big deal" on game days, and generates huge amounts of waste.

For a stadium, tailgating is a big deal. There are companies around the stadium that become tailgating locations on game day, and huge amounts of recyclable aluminum end up in the trash or on the street. How do we incentivize people to not dump that stuff?

BPGL: At the stadium, which items in the waste stream will you recycle?

FRISCH: The Cowboys use cups that are recyclable. They’re also collector’s items. The ideal thing is that most people take them home. But if they don’t take them home, they’re number 5 plastic and can be recycled.

And cardboard is a huge waste stream. It’s a matter of just segregating the types, but you still have to get people to do it.

BPGL: What about food waste?

FRISCH: With any stadium, there are huge amounts of food production. I think the new stadium will have five separate kitchens. And these are huge. They’ll be feeding 90,000 people. They have beautiful suites, and they’ll do full catering for those suites.

Kitchens provide opportunities for cost savings in energy, packaging, and food.

The ways they use the kitchens and stage the food and open freezer doors and turn on the ovens create a huge carbon footprint. But that can be reduced just by getting people to take small steps. It’s as simple as turning on the shrink-wrap machine only for the first and last hour, instead of leaving it on for the entire game, when no one is using it.

We also looked at how they’re disposing of the grease and even how much food they’re throwing away. We examine habits that people do automatically.

BPGL: People across the country are changing out light bulbs to use CFLs. Are there similar savings to be made with lighting at the stadium?

FRISCH: We looked at how the cleaning crew uses the lighting in the stadium when the fans aren’t there. There’s huge wattage in those lights, and the default is that they just leave everything on when they clean. They can turn off some of the lights and save about $500 an hour.

Turning off some of the stadium lights during cleanup could save $500 each hour.

BPGL: What are some suggestions you gave them?

FRISCH: That’s where the social engineering part comes in. We can tell people what to do, like turn off the lights, stage the food a certain way, separate the recycling, add more recycling bins in certain areas. But people actually know all that. You can go to any website on the top ten things you can do for the environment and get that list.

The missing piece that we’re working on is, how do you get them to commit to doing the action? We know what action they have to do. What we’re training them to do is to create the framework that will get people to actually commit to doing those actions. That’s the behavioral change side of it.

BPGL: How do you get people to change entrenched behaviors?

FRISCH: I wish there was a cookie cutter answer to explain how you change someone’s behavior. It’s helping them think about, Why does the tailgater put it here? and What is the only thing they would need to make them not put it there? This varies by city. Each fan base has its own personality. Geographically, there are some things that fly easier in certain parts of the country, and other things that don’t, depending on what the culture is.

One of the things we have them working on first is what they can control directly. And of course, what they can control directly is their employees, their vendors, and their contractors.

One of the biggest waste streams is the packaging the food comes in.

BPGL: We hear a lot about “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” It seems that the stadium has the recycling aspect covered. What have you recommended to them about reducing and reusing?

FRISCH: Ideally, “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle” is the hierarchy. Recycling is actually the last thing you want to do. We start by asking, What are all the things we can reduce at the source? Then, What can we reuse? Then, What can we recycle?

One of their biggest waste streams is the packaging that the food comes in. They pay twice for it. They pay for that box or wrapper to get manufactured and sold, and then they pay to throw it away. So we tell them to go back to their supplier or vendor and say, “This particular product is taking up 30 percent of our waste stream. We want to continue doing business with you, but we want you to propose a packaging that uses half as much.” That’s greening the supply chain.

BPGL: You said you don’t have a composting set up for the food waste. Do you have any ways of reusing the food waste stream?

FRISCH: Typically, the short answer for the Cowboys Stadium is, “Not at this time,” although we’re looking at lots of different options. Initially, what they committed to is energy reduction, water reduction, and solid waste reduction. So for year one of their EMS, we’re looking at projects in those areas.

Each year, we’ll revisit projects. Composting is not on this year’s. list. But, as composting is becoming more popular, the cost of taking all that food waste goes down, because a composter is less than 60 miles away.

Fans leave paper and food waste behind when they leave the stadium.

BPGL: How will you encourage fans to make good choices?

FRISCH: We have to consider what type of recycle bins to use, how far fans have to walk to get to one, what kind of stuff to put up on the big screen to make it amusing and entertaining to recycle, and what to give away as a reward. Everybody likes Cowboys paraphernalia here.

We’d like to incentivize the behavior before we punish it — and punishment is a bad word. There’s a consequence if you use up the environment. There’s damage, so there’s a consequence. But even fear of death doesn’t cause people to change their behaviors. A study was published a couple years back, in which they said that 90 percent of patients who had had a heart attack, even being told they would certainly die if they didn’t change their ways, didn’t change their ways. So, that’s the dynamic you’re looking at. Even fear of death doesn’t make people change their behavior. You have to get behind what views are driving their results and getting them to commit. Commitment is the only thing that can pull us out.

BPGL: What’s the next step at the Cowboy Stadium?

FRISCH: The one great thing about behavior change around the environment is that it’s evolutionary. So the exciting thing about the Cowboy Stadium — and all the stadiums — is that they can put in one program, then the next, then the next. And as the consciousness raises, there’s infinite stuff to do. If you get champions, you can enroll the fan base and take certain things on. We want to start looking at, What will the fans be willing to do?

Sports teams can flip fan behavior and get them to act in more responsible ways.

There really are infinite ways to get people to transform their behavior. It’s just that we’re so used to either putting a law or some kind of gate in place, but that’s really not effective. People will still break the law. People will still break the rules.

BPGL: How will you assess the effectiveness of the Cowboys’ program?

FRISCH: They’ll review their performance annually. We’ll initially help them do it. One of the great things about taking on the National Environmental Performance Track and an EMS is that they will have the capability of doing it themselves. Then every three years, if they want to stay in the EPA’s program, they need an outside, third party to do that for them.

BPGL: Are other sports teams as progressive as the Cowboys at going green?

FRISCH: The sports teams are really on the cusp. A lot of them are looking at LEED. A lot of them are looking at recycling. It’s only a matter of time before they realize they have a fan base and employee base they can flip and deliver on those behaviors. Considering what they spend on operations, it’s a very nominal amount of money to support that environmental change.

Just so you know, their new tagline is, “Dallas Cowboys Go Blue.” They’re in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and it’s a non-attainment area for air quality, so blue is clean air. And blue is clean water, and recycling, and lowering our carbon footprint. With leadership from the Dallas Cowboys, we’re hoping the word will spread and all fans will follow the team’s lead. The goal is not just a better stadium, but a better world for all of us.

Part 1: Culture Change Drives Environmental Improvement

Part 2: Dallas Cowboys Go Blue (for a Greener Stadium) (Top of Page)

Julia Wasson

Blue Planet Green Living

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