Credit: Jenny Harvey/HRES
At HRES we made it convenient for our staff to reduce waste by providing each person with a mug and a drinking glass. Our goal was to cut down on the number of disposable cups used for coffee and water, to both save money and to reduce waste. We purchased 150 mugs and 150 glasses, each of which are branded with the HRES logo, for $1128 in September 2007.
Checking In
To test our hypothesis that we really are reducing waste and expenses, we examined the number of disposable cups purchased for use by the 25 staff members located on the 10th floor of Holyoke Center before and after handing out the glasses and mugs. It turns out that we've reduced our purchase of disposable cups by nearly half – going down from approximately 750 per month to fewer than 400. This resulted in a savings of about $21/month, which means we achieved payback for the glasses and mugs used by this group in less than nine months. And, we’re also sending 350 fewer cups to the landfill each month – which means 4,200 fewer cups to the landfill annually from just this group.
As there are several large conference rooms on the floor, some of those disposable cups are used by guests. Our next step -- encourage meeting attendants to bring their own cups so as to cut down even more.
A Wee Bit Inconvenient
The HRES folks on the 8th floor of Holyoke Center have also been busy. In order to further encourage use of HRES mugs and glasses, in December of 2008 some green-thinking staff members moved the disposable cups from the 8th floor kitchen to a cabinet at the other end of the hall. Employees who wanted to grab a cup of coffee on the fly without having to get their mug soon realized that it would be just as quick to get their mug as it would be to go to the cabinet for a disposable cup. Making the cups a bit less accessible has resulted in a further drop in the demand for disposable cups on the 8th floor. In the three months following the change they went from approximately 220 per month to just 150.
Lessons Learned
- Make it easy for people to participate in your sustainability program.
- If possible, make it more convenient to participate than not.
...we’re also sending 350 fewer cups to the landfill each month...