June 27, 2008
RA's Green Team Promotes Recyling
By Leslie Perales
Observer Staff Writer
When community group Reston Environmental Action (REACT) decided they wanted to tackle a large project, they took their ideas and concepts to Reston Association. REACT normally holds seminars to teach neighborhood groups about recycling and other green practices, and they wanted to see if they could help local businesses establish greener workplaces, said Mary Brown, a REACT director.
“We wanted to show that just employees getting together can make a difference,” Brown said. REACT partnered with RA about a year ago and since then RA has established a Green Team. “We just got talking with each other and got a lot more ideas that way,” said Katie Shaw, manager of the Walker Nature Education Center and environmental education.
When they started the Green Team, REACT and RA took an inventory of each RA department to see what green practices, like recycling, were already in place were doing already and what improvements could be made, Shaw said. Employees were receptive of the project and RA launched its Green Team with one member from each of its departments, Shaw said.
Since its founding, the Green Team has created a checklist of the top 10 green practices, such as recycling paper, bottles and cans, and washing and reusing utensils, that every employee could complete.
RA has started recycling as much waste as possible, Shaw said, explaining that education is key to improving recycling habits. “Half of the group was still checking for 1s and 2s in their recycling,” Shaw said, referring to the numbers that identify the type of plastic for recycling. She said now any plastic or glass bottle that has a neck that decreases in size near its opening can be recycled; however, yogurt and dairy tubs, as well as caps and tops of containers, cannot be recycled.
Shaw said RA has greatly reduced its paper waste by using online employment applications and printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. She said RA now uses 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. In addition, employees at RA are trying to conserve energy by turning off lights, computers, printers and copiers whenever possible and by switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs, she said.
The Green Team also promotes walking, biking or using public transportation when coming to work, and RA purchased its first hybrid vehicle this past year. Shaw said the Green Team’s message has reached beyond RA’s offices. “If we can get people to start it at work, they’ll do it at home, too,” she said.
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