By Grace Dennis ’15

Few shoppers consider sustainability when purchasing new clothing but surprisingly the fashion industry has a major environmental impact. From production to transport to disposal fashion is the third most polluting industry after oil and agriculture. The impact of clothing begins with the production of fabric materials. Growing natural fibers is incredibly resource-intensive, with cotton alone responsible for a quarter of the pesticides used in the United States. Textile dyeing, which is responsible for 20% of industrial water pollution, also adds to the industry’s environmental impact. Factory-made clothing is extremely inefficient with fabric usage. For each garment produced 15-20% of the fabric is thrown away as scraps. With 1 billion garments coming out of China alone each year, that’s a lot of wasted material.

With the growth of fast fashion and cheap clothing retailers like Forever 21 and H&M society has begun to see clothing as disposable. New wardrobes can be easily bought to follow changing trends and torn clothing can be discarded instead of repaired and worn again. This growing disposable mindset of fashion has lead to the major increase of perfectly good clothing in landfills. In fact, the average American throws away 68 pounds of unwanted clothing each year. Currently only 15% of discarded clothing in the United States is sold in thrift and consignment shops, like Goodwill. As clothing becomes cheaper to buy new, the perceived resale value of unwanted clothes has decreased considerably. Cheap clothing also removes the need to buy used clothing at discounted prices. Only 12-15% of Americans shop at resale shops, creating a major gap in the circle of reuse.

Many clothing companies have acknowledged the environmental impacts of the fashion industry and have begun working towards more sustainable practices. Sustainably harvested fibers, waterless dye processes, and zero-waste manufacturing are all being tested out by many clothing brands. Consumer involvement is also a vital step in decreasing the environmental impact of the fashion industry. A movement away from the disposable mindset of clothing will help address the massive amount of waste created by discarded clothing. Quality of materials and construction should be highly valued and clothing should be seen as an investment. Higher quality garments will last much longer before fading or ripping. Consumers will also be more likely to repair a piece of clothing if they see it as a quality investment.

When a piece of clothing is discarded there are two main ways to keep it out of a landfill:

• Recycling- clothing that is too worn or stained can be taken to a textile recycling center to be remade into new fabric
• Donation or consignment- still wearable pieces can be donated to thrift stores like Goodwill or resold at consignment shops or online retailers

In order to complete the circle of recycling more shoppers need to purchase used clothing. Used clothing stores today are much more upscale than many people imagine. Chains like Second Time Around, which has stores in 12 states, and the online retailer tradesy.com specialize in reselling brand name clothing for a fraction of the original price. These new resale stores simplify the shopping experience by eliminating the need to sift through racks and racks of clothes to find quality pieces.

While sustainability may not be a major consideration when purchasing clothing, simple measures can be taken to decrease the impact our clothing choices have on the environment. Shoppers should consider sustainable brands and used clothing stores when making purchases. Many rips can be easily repaired at home or by a tailor, greatly extending the life of a piece of clothing. Finally, unwanted clothing should always be recycled, donated, or resold to ensure it stays out of landfills.

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By Katherine Schultz ’15

Due to kegs not being allowed at Colgate, there is a ridiculous amount of beer cans consumed on campus. It is important to understand the benefits and accessibility of recycling in Hamilton, and the positive economic, social, and environmental impacts recycling can have.

Aluminum cans have the ability to be “good for the environment” if properly recycled because they have the ability to save energy, time, money, and natural resources. Unlike plastic bags, which endanger marine life and trash the planet, aluminum cans are 100% recyclable and there is no limit to how many times they can be recycled. Over 100 billion aluminum cans are sold in the United States each year, but less than half are recycled. This means that we are wasting about 1.5 million tons of aluminum worldwide, which contributes to emissions of carbon dioxide, and sulfur and nitrogen oxide during the smelting process. Mining for aluminum can disrupt the land, affect the environment, and create health problems for those exposed to toxins.

Recycling aluminum saves about 90% of the energy needed to make the aluminum because it is more energy efficient to make products from existing aluminum to than to create the aluminum needed for new products. According to the Container Recycling Institute, creating a new can is equivalent to powering a laptop for 11 hours. Additionally, recycling one pound of aluminum (about 33 cans) can save about 7 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. Overall, the recycling of aluminum uses less energy, less raw materials, sends fewer materials to landfills, and is cost effective.

If Colgate students want to recycle cans in Hamilton, cans can be brought to Caz Cans at 2352 State Rt. 12B, and Price Chopper. Both of these locations are accessible, but nevertheless if students are feeling lazy and do not want to drive their cans to these locations, if the cans are separated from the plastic cups used, Madison County has a recycling facility that accepts and recycles cans to benefit their center.

Sources:

http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/The-Benefits-Of-Aluminum-Recycling-Why-Recycle-Aluminum.htm

http://myzerowaste.com/articles/food/why-recycle-tins-and-cans/

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/importance-recycling-aluminum-cans-79304.html

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Since the hire of Food Service Manager of Sustainability Programs at Colgate, Deb Hanson, enhancing the sustainability of foods at dining locations on campus has been in full swing. Most recently, the sustainability team has developed a database of all the local foods Sodexo is currently purchasing and looking for ways and partnerships to increase the percentage of local foods we are buying. Hanson has been regularly speaking with Colgate’s food suppliers to keep them updated on our sustainability goals and discover new opportunities for local and sustainable foods. Hanson and sustainability intern, Emily Adams, took a trip to Purdy & Sons foods in Sherburne, NY to meet with suppliers Dan and Vicki Purdy to discuss our sustainability goals, and were given a tour of their meat processing facility. The Purdys’ shared their process of sourcing local meats, produce, and dairy products and their own personal goals of supporting the local economy. Buying locally requires advanced planning and commitments, as unlike buying from large global corporations, food cannot just be ordered and expected to magically show up at Frank’s doors within a few days. Rather, the Purdys have to have an idea of how much product they will require over the year and inform local farmers to raise certain numbers of cattle or acres of corn, for example, they should be growing. The Purdy’s goal is to work with small local farmers and link them with universities and businesses, as these institutions, such as Sodexo at Colgate, cannot buy directly from local producers without having a third party certify them. The Purdy’s next gave the Sodexo sustainability team a tour of the meat facility, where we were able to see workers carefully hand-rolling sausages and full carcasses of local meat hanging in the coolers waiting to be transformed into ground beef for Colgate’s local burgers. Continuously working with local suppliers and maintaining close relationships with them is something the Sodexo sustainability team believes is important as we continue to expand our local food purchasing.

Recently, the Colgate Sodexo team also signed the Taste NY Pledge which is an agreement to increase the use of New York grown and produced products in our dining locations to at least 10% of total procurement. This pledge also states an agreement to educate and maintain staff’s knowledge about the quality, importance and impact of New York’s locally grown and produced products, to highlight seasonal ingredients, and to note whenever possible, the names of the farms or local companies products are coming from. Sodexo is working to improve transparency of our local items by updating a board of local items in Frank daily, introducing item identifiers in the food lines, and having farmer profiles featured on the dining hall tablets. Frank is also planning for a Local Food Showcase “Get Local New York” where some local suppliers will feature their products and speak with students about how they produce their food. Frank is also planning a coffee sampling event in order to choose a new fair trade sustainable coffee to be implemented across dining locations. Sodexo is also preparing for Earth Day by joining Colgate’s 13 Days of Green. Frank will be preparing a special all-local meal for Earth Day, will be requesting students to make commitments to being more environmentally friendly through the “I Commit” campaign, and will be having another Weigh-the-Waste event to demonstrate the amount of food wasted daily in the dining hall

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By Lindsey Sagasta ’16

It’s easy to see how convenient Keurig machines are for the average college student vying for that extra 10 minutes of sleep or studying, however, the waste associated with the K-cups goes largely unnoticed, and that’s a problem. In the past few years, there has been a large amount of attention drawn to the waste generated by Keurig K-cups, and many protests have sprung up in response to the unsustainable products. At the forefront of this movement is the “Kill the K Cup” campaign. If you haven’t seen the viral video– I strongly suggest you to check it out as well as KillTheKCup.org.

This recent backlash and attention to the matter has even spurred the creator of the Keurig machine to speak out about the unfolding disaster. According to a Buzzfeed article based off of an interview with The Atlantic, John Sylvan regrets creating the device because of the waste associated with the single-use cups (which are not recyclable or biodegradable). In fact, it was calculated that if each pod that ended up in a landfill in 2014 was lined up, the Earth could be circled an estimated 10.5 times- maybe even more.

The vision Sylvan first had of the pod-based coffee machine was solely for offices, and now, almost one in three American homes is in possession of one, with many more similar pod-requiring appliances in the works (a Keurig for jello shots,  Coca-Cola: “Keurig Cold”, Campbells: Keurig Soups). And although subsets of Keurig, such as Keurig Green Mountain, have announced their commitment to a fully recyclable version of a K-cup by 2020, Sylvan is skeptical of their success. Sylvan told The Atlantic “No matter what they say about recycling, those things will never be recyclable,” largely because of the requirements of the machine’s brewing process.

Until the manufacturers of the cups can address their wrongdoings- there are things that K-Cup users can do to make a difference, and for some, Keurig is willing to assist you.

• In the “Grounds to Grow On” program, customers using Keurig machines at their offices are able to “collect each brewed pack and return it to our disposal partner.” Left over grounds are collected for compost and use in a variety of agricultural applications, while the packs are given to Covanta Energy to gather energy from the waste.
• Some environmentally conscious K-Cup lovers have taken to creative and practical ways of reusing the cups.
• One nifty YouTube user has created a great tutorial on how to repack k-cups for her Keurig machine- using the plastic cups up to for or five times before sending them to the landfill AND composting leftover coffee grounds! (Also mentioning the “My K-Cup” option to reducing waste or using your own coffee)

Stay up to date with KillTheKCup.org if you want to learn more about current efforts to reduce waste and other sustainability issues regarding single-serve items. On campus, you can reduce coffee waste by refilling your coffee mugs at places such as the Coop, Hieber Café, or Frank.

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By Mallory Hart ’16

As we can all tell, Taylor Lake is beginning to thaw, the snow is melting, and we might even hear some birds chirp outside our windows. Spring is coming! Adding some sustainable checkboxes to that spring-cleaning list of yours could be an easy and effective way to change some unsustainable behaviors. Here’s a list of a few easy things you can do this spring that involves enjoying the warmer weather, staying organized for school, sprucing up the dorm room, and considering your wardrobe.

• Rent a green bike! It’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors while getting where you need to be. A favorite of mine is biking downtown on weekend mornings for brunch. The rental period for bikes in the spring is from April 1 – May 1 and only cost $15/month. Check out the website for more information colgate.edu/greenbikes
• Midterms are over so it might be time to reorganize that messy binder and refill all the paper you used up studying. First, try using both sides of any scrap paper you might have. This can help reduce the amount of paper used in general. After, be sure to purchase 100% recycled paper for the rest of the year and continue to use both sides.
• When its time for the actual dorm room clean up, think about the types of cleaning products to use. Typical chemical spray cleaners release volatile organic compounds and toxins, making air in most homes as much as five times more polluted than air outside. Method, The Honest Co.*, and Seventh Generation are some eco-friendly brands to keep in mind when purchasing products for the home (or dorm). As a general rule of thumb, use cleaning products that…
  • List ingredients
  • Contain no chlorine, ammonia, or synthetic chemicals
  • Are certified biodegradable
  • Come in recyclable packaging
  • Are Green Seal certified
• Clean out your closet. It’s time to part ways with that old sweater you didn’t wear all winter – yeah; I’m talking about that one. While spring-cleaning usually involves putting away all of the heavy winter gear and replacing it with some fabulous new warm weather clothes, there are a few things to take into account before doing so. It’s important to DONATE your old clothes, since its good for the environment and society at the same time. When it comes to spring shopping, check out vintage stores! The clothes bought at thrift shops are second-hand, making recycling part of your wardrobe as well.

* Shout out to Colgate’s Entrepreneurs Weekend that is bringing The Honest Company’s Founder and CCO Jessica Alba on campus next weekend. Check out http://www.colgate.edu/distinctly-colgate/entrepreneurship/entrepreneur-weekend#ew_schedule for more information.

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