When you walk by the garbage cans after lunch, do you stop and think about where your garbage goes? Do you consider whether it’s recyclable? Are you already in the habit of recycling?

Before I joined the Sustainability VAT about a year ago I never really thought much about these things except for recycling some cans and plastic bottles. The mission of the S-VAT is to help CMC find ways to rethink, reduce, reuse, repair, and recycle.  I have learned so much in such a short time and I’m much more aware about what is/isn’t going to the landfills.

Every day we make decisions about what ends up in our landfill. It is not always a conscious decision, but a very important one nonetheless.  Here at Clovis Community we have aimed at making this process a little easier and one that everyone can use. 

We have put in place a system where employees only have to sort wet and dry instead of sorting all types of recycled material.  Wet waste is typically considered food waste, liquid, or food-contaminated paper products while dry waste includes recyclables such as cans, bottles, paper, plastic, glass, to-go boxes, etc… 

In 2015 we switched to a wet/dry system and here’s what happened:

• We went from 1 large trash compactor, and 1 small recycle bin to 1 large recycle compactor and a smaller trash compactor 
• Our running grand totals are: 49.02 recycling tons and 40.67 general trash tons 
• 54.65% has been recycled and 45.35% is going to the landfill  ​

As you can see our new system has already made an impact…..more trash is being recycled instead of going to the landfill. However, we can do a lot better with your help!!!!

Here are a few things to consider when deciding where to throw your trash:

• Make sure you scrape all food products into the waste bin and the empty container goes into the recycle cans.  
• If you don’t have the time to sort your trash, simply set it on the tray return and we will sort it for you in the back

And remember that it only takes a couple of seconds to make a huge impact on our environment and keep waste out of our landfills!

To discuss more green ideas or for information about getting involved in sustainability at Community Medical Centers, contact Kathryn Tinsley at ktinsley@communitymedical.org  and/or join the Green Champions email list by contacting rhightower@communitymedical.org.
 
Amanda Chambers
Retail Manager, Nutrition and Dining
Clovis Community Medical Center