Kansas Green Guide Your Bi-Weekly Guide to Sustainable Living

Green Team Feature: BNSF Green Team April 27, 2012

The BNSF Green Team celebrated Earth Day last Friday, April 20 with an event for the employees. BNSF Railway employs around 500 people in the Topeka General Office Building and they all were invited to participate in the event. Free houseplants were given away, along with reusable freezer bags and cookies. Employees were able to get information from Extreme Recycling, Habitat ReStore as well as other booths that focused on recycling and carpooling. An electronic waste recycling event was planned in conjunction and employees had the opportunity to drop off e-waste in the Employees complete scavenger hunt at 2012 Earth Day event morning and afternoon. A fun scavenger hunt ensured that employees took the time to absorb the information that was presented to them. Each employee that completed a scavenger hunt was entered for a prize drawing. The BNSF Green Team started in 2009 in Topeka and 26 employees from all departments are on the team. The initial movement came from a facilities manager who led the elimination of Styrofoam cups from break rooms. After that, employees volunteered to join and form the green team. Since its inception, the green team led the way for many changes in the Topeka office building. An energy reduction campaign encouraged employees to turn off computers, monitors and BNSF Green Team lighting both at their workstations and overhead. Recycling of paper, plastics, aluminum cans and cardboard were either implemented or refreshed. Innovative ideas included an office supply swap spot and an internal green team website for employees have been put into place. 2010 brought the 1st Annual Earth Day event for employees. Some non-traditional recycling was implemented, such as printer cartridges, eyeglasses, cell phones and toiletries. Employee education didnt stop with the Earth Day event. Education articles are published throughout the year in emails and posts on the green team website. In 2011, they added an event for America Recycles Day on November 15. Recycling games, information booths and a pizza sale with free dessert helped educate the employees for that event. A waste audit in July 2011 found out that 50% of their trash could be recycled. Through recycling education and outreach, they estimate that that amount has been reduced by half. Their recycling efforts since September 2011 have kept 24,875 pounds out of the landfill, which is a wonderful accomplishment!

Employees receive a free house plant at 2012 Earth Day event

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Kansas Green Guide April 27, 2012