CCA Facilities Get Greener, Give Back
At CCA facilities across the nation, the mantra, “reduce, reuse, recycle” is more than just an environmentally-friendly slogan; it is – and continues to become – a way of life. Step by step, employees and inmates are working to make facilities greener and are giving back to their communities in the process.
“At our facility, we are most proud that we save all ink and toner cartridges and donate them to the Bolivar-Hardeman County Public Library where they are sold to a recycling company and the library uses the extra money to buy books,” says Sara Roberts, training manager and public information officer at Hardeman County Correctional Center.
At Idaho Correctional Center, as at other facilities, monitoring energy savings in each pod is part of the monthly housing inspection. The facility has launched a new program in which pods with the greatest savings are rewarded with pizza or Burger King for dinner.
San Diego Correctional Facility has grown greener by jump-starting numerous initiatives, from placing recycling bins in offices and break areas to buying tilt trucks for facility clean-up. Distributing educational materials to staff has also boosted environmental awareness.
“The payoff is in the reduced cost for the tonnage of waste and the number of pick ups per month,” says Richard Crouch, business manager at San Diego. Since beginning its recycling program, the facility has reduced its trash production from an average of about 46 tons each month to just over 30 tons last month. “With the facility, our vendor Allied Waste and our United Waste Solutions representative monitoring the refuse expenses, we expect to reduce this expense five to ten percent over the coming year.”
But Crouch says these changes amount to much more than cost savings.
“Although saving money is a great thing in the economy we’re currently in, it’s more about being good to and responsible for our environment and a good neighbor in our community.”
Perhaps one of the most unusual ways facilities have become more eco-friendly is by using worm farms to turn compost into soil. Gadsden Correctional Facility operates three worm farms and New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility uses two. The worms consume everyday refuse like dryer lint, coffee filters, tea bags and more.
“The worms probably eat the garbage of 20 people each week,” says Laura Bedard, assistant warden, Programs at Gadsden, where the first worm farm was introduced over a year ago. “It’s a very good thing to do for the environment and the inmates really get a kick out of it. This is a solution I hope we’ll be able to tap into long-term.”
The facility’s horticulture students use the castings and liquid the worms produce to enrich facility soil and create chemical-free insecticides.
How is your facility getting - or staying - green? What do you do in your personal life to protect the environment? Share your recycling programs, eco-centered community service projects and innovative approaches by sounding out. Also, be sure to check out the article “Getting Greener” from the March 2010 issue of Correct Perspectives.
By DeAndra Mack