Welcome!

Welcome to the CSU Libraries Committee on Sustainability. The committee was formed May 11, 2015 and was charged "to explore ways in which Morgan Library and its occupants could promote and advance sustainability."

This Guide provides updates as to what Morgan Library is doing, what other sustainability groups at CSU are doing, and ways you can improve your sustainability.

 

Check out the Morgan Library Goes Green site to learn about Electronic Reserves and Local Document Delivery, two ways to reduced paper use.

What We Are Doing

Here are just a few things that we are working on. If you have any suggestions or comments, please let us know!

  • Investigate energy consumption from computers and other technologies
  • Look at lighting in the library
  • Educate staff on sustainability issues
  • Provide energy reducing tools to staff, such as CFL/LED bulbs and conservation surge protectors
  • Recycling education

Committee Newsletters

The Sustainability Newsletters can be found in the CSU institutional repository here: Mountain Scholar --> Sustainability

 

In the August 2015 Newsletter we mention that coffee cups are not recyclable. This is a confusing idea for many people, at least it was for us on the Sustainability Committee. We wanted to make sure we passed on accurate information so we emailed the Sr. Environmental Planner for Fort Collins. She confirmed that coffee cups are not recyclable:

  • "The short answer is that the plants that sort out our recyclables (called Materials Recovery Facilities, or MRFs) simply prohibit them – and their word is the final word!"
  • "The longer answer is that the combined paper/plastic lined material used to manufacture coffee cups is not conducive the being pulled apart (say, in a water-bath process) so that the individual components can be re-manufactured into a new type of product. Probably before long some bright/talented person will figure that out….technology has done some amazing things to improve the recycle-ability of a lot of materials in the past 10 years."
  • "In the meantime, since there is no end market for the coffee cups’ paper/plastic combo, it isn’t viable for anyone in the recycling industry to accept it."

For more information this site was recommended as being the most accurate for the Northern Colorado situation: http://grist.org/living/ask-umbra-are-coffee-cups-recyclable/.

Contact Us

Please contact us if you have any ideas or suggestions, or just want to say hi!

The Morgan Library Sustainability Committee:

 


https://livinglightinternational.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/

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URL: https://libguides.colostate.edu/sustainability | Print Page