My name is Hope Bartlett, and as the Office Coordinator for the College of Professional Studies Dean’s Office, I have a special hand in turning our office “Green”. We have worked on several small projects in our office to make ourselves more sustainable. Printing off the Recycling Guidelines for the Auraria Campus has been a great help to eliminate guesswork on what is recyclable or not, and has helped more people recycle. The biggest step I facilitated for our office was to reduce our use of single use items, such as paper plates, cups, and silverware. Once I suggested this idea to the office, everyone was joyfully on board! We hid away all of our single use products and I brought in some old plates, bowls, cups and utensils to the office.
The biggest challenge we face in our reduction of single use kitchen items is the fact we do not have a sink in our office suite. However, our team has stepped up and we all take turns washing dishes for one another. Single use plastics are a huge contributor to pollution and litter, and making simple changes results in huge impacts. By introducing my team to the reduction of single use items, other conversations about sustainability have naturally sprouted. We often talk about other ways to reduce our waste, our water use, and we have a strict “only print when really needed” policy.
Every month, the ASCP highlights a "Sustainability Hero" on the Auraria campus who is doing something worth celebrating. Want to share your story or nominate someone else? E-mail jackie.slocombe@ahec.edu with a brief description of the work being done!