Author: Hillary Alexander
The student-operated Grean Bean recently hired environmental consultant Leslie Vankeuren, to help formulate ideas and initiate sustainability efforts for the business. The most visible of these changes is the composting program that the entire Johnson Student Center is taking part in.
“Our basis, as in our name, is to be a model of sustainability on campus” Green Bean Sales Analysis Manager Chris Suzdak said.
Through their collaboration with Vankeuren, who spent fifteen years in the restaurant business and is now using this experience to aid local businesses to be more environmentally friendly, the Green Bean has been working on a variety of efforts. One currently under way is the reusable mug program, which gives students a twenty cent discount if they bring in their own reusable mug.
Starting next semester the Green Bean will provide reusable cups, similar to the eco-clamshells in the Marketplace. When you are finished with your drink you simply return the cup, which is then washed for the next customer.
“We want to do anything to cut down on cup usage,” Suzdak said.
Other sustainability efforts that the Green Bean currently takes part in include using non-bleached paper towels, purchasing products from local companies, making sure all packing material is compostable and using a majority of natural, bio-degradable cleaning products. Also, all utensils except for the straws are compostable.
The Green Bean’s new composting pilot program was started over the summer by Athens Waste Management as a guinea pig for the aspired campus-wide sustainability program.
Currently, only organizations based in the Johnson Student Center participate in this program.
In the Marketplace, staff members separate compost from trash themselves, but in the Green Bean students need to do the sorting themselves. Suzdak and Green Bean Health and Safety Manger Rachel Seibert stress the importance of everyone being conscious and involved for these efforts to be successful.
“It just takes an extra second or two to make sure it’s not trash,” Seibert said.
Seibert has been with the Green Bean since its founding. Recently, she became the head of the Green Bean’s sustainability initiatives. Seibert, a physics major with a chemical emphasis and a biology minor who aspires to be an environmental engineer, is confident and enthusiastic about this project. For her, it is an extension of the already sustainable life she leads.
“It’s something I’m passionate about. I want to help the environment any way I can,” she said.
Last Sunday, Green Bean management held a staff meeting to inform their employees about the sustainability initiatives.
More sustainability programs are expected to be introduced in the near future.
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