One-Sided Paper Initiative Makes Recycling Easy

Today marks the completion of another Net Impact Initiative!

One-sided paper bins:

In the business school, we have a problem with paper. The business school students have at least eleven public printers available for use in at least seven different locations. Each time a student prints, the document is not automatically sent to the closest printer but is instead sent to whatever printer the student has selected. As I’m sure you can imagine, when a student is in a rush sometimes they just don’t check their printer settings. This leads to a high rate of printing mistakes and consequently lots of unused “mistake” paper lying at each printing station.

A newly installed bin being put to use in the BSBA express lab

Thanks to the Student Sustainability Fund, we’ve been able to take one step toward solving this printer problem. Since we can’t affect computer capabilities on the prevention end of the problem, we have instead focused on improving the current situation. We have installed one-sided paper bins next to every printer in the business school with signs that encourage students to reuse their printer paper before recycling it. On the signs, we have suggested alternative uses such as scratch paper for problem sets or combining multiple sheets to form reused note pads. Next semester we hope to roll out an awareness campaign in the hallway to educate students on the purpose of the bins. These bins are one step towards a sustainable lifestyle for students. First stop Simon Hall, next stop… campus wide.

Contribution from Initiative Leader, Austin Spurlock. Austin sits on the executive board as the Membership Vice President, in addition to leading the DOT:Do One Thing (for Sustainability) campaign in the business school.

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