Wasting Bathroom Paper Towels Raise Environmental Concerns
By Fatema Maswood ’11
News Staff Reporter
Since the Green Cup Challenge, students and faculty members have been working harder and learning new ways to conserve energy and resources. This effort on the part of students requires the school to match it, and one can’t help but wonder: How much is Choate doing to help students conserve? A good place to start answering this would be a fundamental location in the lives of all Choaties and humans in general – the bathroom.
Presently, the majority of lavatories on campus use automatic paper towel dispensers that react to a hand waved in front of a sensor. The machine then dispenses a set amount of paper towel, and will not dispense any more paper until the previous length is pulled off. Though not as green as hand dryers, this method conserves considerably more than the multi-fold paper towel dispensers previously used in many campus bathrooms. Multi-fold paper towels, interestingly enough, have multiple folds which overlap and cause many sheets to stick together. This makes it easy for anyone to pull off several more than needed and to then waste all of them. As this clearly was not the most environmentally friendly option, people such as John Bjorkdahl, head of OneSource facilities, began to look into better options. In an effort to make bathrooms on campus more uniform, as well as to conserve paper, the current system was decided upon after looking into all available options. “It has saved us a lot of paper, which in turn has saved a lot of money,” said Bjorkdahl. Before installing this system, one alternative that was explored was putting automatic hand dryers into campus bathrooms. Although these hand dryers would be more environmentally friendly than paper towel dispensers, all bathrooms on campus would have to be rewired because the old electrical system would not support hand dryers. Our current hand-drying system is the most cost-effective and conservational method that can be supported at the moment.
Opportunities to be greener are present in more than just the issue of paper towel wastage in bathrooms. A staggering amount of water is wasted each day in the process of showering, flushing toilets, and using sinks. According to Tom Yopp, Manager of Building Operations, Choate facilities have been working on reducing this amount by installing water-saver fixtures over the past two years. Eighty-five percent of campus has been outfitted with water-saver toilets that use 1.6 gallons or water per flush, a great improvement over the older toilets that used 3.5 gallons per flush. In addition, nearly 100% of campus has been installed with new shower heads, which use 2.5 gallons of water per minute rather than the previous 3.4 to 3.7 gallons of water. Changes made also include usage of energy-efficient light bulbs in all lavatories, and certified green, foam hand-washing soap. Energy efficient options have been put to use all over campus, a huge step in the right direction. Liz Gribkoff ’09, co-president of Students against Climate Change, said, “It’s great that Choate is trying to be more sustainable and take responsibility for the future.” Still, she hopes that more can be done. “I really wish hand dryers could be installed in bathrooms instead of paper towel…at least in some buildings. They are so much better for the environment ”
Mr. Bjorkdahl and Mr. Yopp agree that conservation changes have been made all over campus. Bjorkdahl said, “We’re always looking for new ways to conserve.” But, as Mr. Yopp pointed out, some options just aren’t available yet. “I think we’re limited to what’s out there in the industry. As new energy efficient fixtures are developed, we will use them to continue to be a leader among private schools.” Before better alternatives arrive and conserve for us, students need to do as much as they can themselves to help the environment in basic ways. Liz Gribkoff ’09 has one simple method of doing this that everyone can follow: “People should learn not to take things they don’t need, like paper towels or napkins. Something like that can make such a huge difference.”
