Institute on Community IntegrationCollege of Education and Human Development

FYI, the Institute on Community Integration Staff Newsletter

June 2009

ICI’s “Clean and Green” Marks One Year of Transformation

The Clean and Green initiative is celebrating its one-year anniversary! In May 2008, with the support of the Institute Council, a volunteer group of ICI employees came together to address the following issues:

  • Establishing a “greener” work environment.

  • Cleaning up common, as well as individual, work space in Pattee Hall.

  • Storing confidential research documents.

  • Recycling of old paperwork, manuscripts, journals, and basic paper waste.

There have been a number of accomplishments that have taken place in the year since Clean and Green’s inception. The following are some of the highlights:

  • Annual Clean and Green Week: This was established to provide a designated time for ICI employees to clean and organize shared and individual work spaces within the building. Large recycling bins are provided and locations are established for electronics recycling, as well as items to be transported to the Reuse Center. Confidential shredding of documents and transport of research documents to the Rosemount storage facility is provided. This event has vastly improved overall work conditions in Pattee and provides all employees with sanctioned time for annual maintenance.

  • Compost Program: The composting program in Pattee Hall has become a huge success! Pattee Hall is one of only a handful of buildings at the University of Minnesota that participates in composting. The organics recovered from Pattee averages between 25 to 30 pounds each week, or 1250 to 1500 pounds per year. All of this is reused, rather than being sent to a landfill. Kudos to all in Pattee who help make this a success.

  • Green Products: Clean and Green has provided cleaning kits on each floor of Pattee that include green cleaning products. It has also begun buying as many compostable kitchen products as possible. Although not perfected as of this date, the group continues to work on improving these items. ICI has also switched to buying 100% recycled paper for copier and printer use.

  • Green Practices: Clean and Green has made an effort to encourage ICI employees to use green practices at work such as turning off equipment when not in use, printing double-sided whenever possible, and reducing margins on documents to increase the amount of print on a given sheet of paper. The Pizza Forum has also become greener due to this program, in great part to the efforts of Rachel Halvorson for ordering compostable supplies and of Debbie Hansen for setting up bins and monitoring the waste generated.

In the coming year, Clean and Green plans to continue these efforts. Although more can and should be done, the committee needs additional assistance through the commitment of new members. Pam Stenhjem facilitates the group and current members include Kara Johnson, Mark Olson, Debbie Hanson, Deb Albus, Amy Kurowski, Jean Ness, Derek Nord, and Chris Bremer. Anyone interested in joining this group should contact Pam at 5-3863 or at huntx010@umn.edu.