Batteries or Laundry?

Recently, the financial commitment of going green and trying to become more sustainable has come to the forefront. It would be great to lace the south-facing roof of the gym with solar panels. But even with grants from the state and federal government, it will take a sizable investment from the school, and this is also true for a family that would like to bring some of these initiatives into their daily living.

Late last fall, Rhys Louis’s ‘09 family gratefully donated six three foot stand up battery collection tubes to help with our recycling efforts. The five tubes for each dorm have had varying levels of success, and the sixth, located in the faculty workroom in the Learning Center, is overflowing.

It was my understanding that these tubes could be simply put in the mail, sent to the prescribed collecting center without any cost to the school. I assumed the company was profiting by extracting and reusing whatever elements they were after in the batteries. I also assumed that the batteries would be handled properly at a recycling facility, and we were doing our part by keeping these batteries out of a landfill.

I could not have been more wrong. In order to recycle our batteries with this company, we need to transfer them into yet a different container that is safe to mail. Each individual battery’s terminal has to be taped or placed in an individual plastic bag per the DOT (Department of Transportation) regulations. Before mailing, the company needs to be called, a label needs to be processed, and a pick up time arranged. There is a cost for the new shipping container, about $75 not including shipping, a shipping cost of about $320, and an $0.85 cost per pound for the batteries, roughly $340. And don’t forget, each individual battery needs to be wrapped!

It makes sense on one level, yet underscores why it is easier just to throw them in the trash. That’s where the problem lies. Somehow, some way we have got to figure out how to make doing what is right easier. Keeping batteries out of landfill is thinking long term. Using renewable energies is thinking long term. We cannot perpetuate a throw away society. Acting in the short term is usually cheaper, both in quality and price, and payback is quick. Looking long term requires forward thinking and a greater initial cash outlay, but it is often the more sustainable route to take.

Developing long term sustainable solutions requires thinking out of the box. As I was sitting on the floor of Mr. Cowherd’s quad this morning talking to Richie Jiaravanon ’09 and Jake Lans ’09, I watched a boy load up the recycling bins with coat hangers and plastic wrappings from his recent haul from the laundry. Mr. Cowherd, Jake and I did a quick ‘back of an envelope’ calculation. If every boy spends $1,000 on the E & R Laundry service, multiply that by 180 boarders, and it equals $180,000. Thinking in the long term, why can’t our laundry be wash and folded by, say two local citizens, and be put back in the bag that it came in at Eaglebrook?  A small laundry building would have to be built and an initial outlay of investment would have to be made, but a dorm a day would get washed, it would no longer be sent by diesel to New Hampshire and back, and there would be no chemicals, no metal hangers, no plastic wrapping, a more personal touch, and we could even collect rainwater to help offset water consumption. It seems to me that the numbers are there. And if we really can think long term, sustainably, let’s get Bement School and Deerfield Academy on board so it is a collaborative, bringing together efficiency, teamwork, community, and shared knowledge. Until then, we have got some batteries to deal with.