The recipients of this quarter’s Green U Awards have been recognized by their coworkers multiple times in the same category over the past quarter for their commitment to environmentally sound practices at home and work.
The awards are given in four categories — Innovation and Implementation, Volunteering, Education and Promotion, and Waste Reduction.
This quarter’s awardees were:
- Innovation and Implementation: Manda Clarke
- Volunteering: Theresa Grutel
- Education and Promotion: Marlene Cohen, Ph.D.
- Waste Reduction: Jana Opavska
Clarke went beyond all expectations. When her group was cleaning out items to be moved, she made sure more than 2,500 pounds of paper were recycled and helped a local school in the process.
LiveGreen: You implemented a process to divert a lot of material away from the landfill during a departmental move. Can you tell us what you did?
Clarke: The West Nebraska Division nursing campus was relocating to a different building this past May. It came to my attention that while packing our offices, many of us were going to be throwing away countless papers, books, etc. I volunteered to be in charge of the recycling aspect of the move.
LiveGreen: Where did all of those items end up?
Clarke: The textbooks were transported to Keep Alliance Beautiful (KAB) in Alliance. KAB encourages the students in the community to recycle and each school was able to earn money based on the pounds retrieved.
LiveGreen: What did you have to do to accomplish this?
Clarke: Because KAB was only accepting paperback books for their school initiative, we had to remove all hard covers from books. This was challenging at times, as they had to be manually removed from hundreds of books. I also had to borrow my father-in-law’s truck in order to transport the boxes of books back to Alliance.
LiveGreen: What motivated you to undertake this process?
Clarke: It was discouraging to think of an excessive amount of paper just being discarded into a dumpster. It was also rewarding to earn money for the school system! I had no idea that we would actually recycle 2500-plus pounds!
If you know an employee who engages in environmentally friendly activities, send them a Green ‘U’.
To recognize a ‘green’ coworker:
- Log in to Employee Self Service;
- Select the “Reward and Recognition” and then “Green U Rewards”; and
- Fill out and submit the online form.
Way to go, Manda!