One plastic tarp, two Tyvex suits, and ten pairs of gloves.

I can hear the Jeopardy music going.

“What is a hardware store?” “No.”

“What is a cleaning supply distributor needing help to understand why its profit is decreasing and hoping an MBA student can apply Porter’s Five Forces?” “No.” Answered again by Alex Trebek.

“What is Darden’s First Trash Audit.” “Right answer!” Alex Trebek smiled.

My buddy Zoe Robins, a fellow Darden second year who completed her summer internship at the Conservation and Community Investment Forum in Bali, Indonesia, has led the first Darden Trash Audit on Thursday Oct 2nd, 2008.

I guess she has definitely brought back the beach weather with her. It was a beautiful sunny day with light breeze, Zoe and her fellow Darden classmates, dressed in the Tyvex suits, started digging into the trash bins for this pilot phase of a characterization of Darden’s waste streams. Watch out Executive MBA students and guests of Sponsorshall, all your trash bins were “sequestered” for this inaugural trash audit. Thank you for your cooperation!

The site of the trash audit was set on the asphalt between the Admissions Office and the main Darden parking garage. A dumpster was hauIed in and set right next to the path of “admission” to the Darden School, if you are considering the Boot Camp. The trash audit ran from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Below are some of the engaging conversations overheard at the trash audit site:

“It is great to be back with my own pack. We all have light figures, flexible physique, and transparent skin tone. I just don’t understand why I, the plastic bottle, was dumped into the trash can and not the recycling bin for recyling?” (Did you know that the majority of plastics, not just bottles, can be recycled at Darden – from lunch boxes to Ziplocs to plastic utensils and even drinking straws?)

“I guess it is easier to throw me into the trash.” The aluminum soda can replied. “Sometimes it is tough to find a recyle bin. Besides, how much can trash be worth anyway? The landfill might be a good place to visit since we will never decompose, right?” (Aluminum cans degrade over the course of 200-500 years. It takes approx. 700 years for a plastic bottle to break down.)

There were already couple of big bags full of plastic bottles and aluminum cans lying next to the path. As a member of Darden’s NetImpact Club, Zoe and many like-minded students have partnered closely with school administration to initiate many changes around the Darden School, including placing more recycle bins in the school building and helping to improve the learning experience by incorporating sustainable enterprise themes into the Darden curriculum. Thanks to another Darden student Bill Gray’s efforts, first year exams have been distributed securely via an on-line verification system since early 2008, thus reducing our carbon footprint while retaining the Darden tradition of “picking up your exam at 8 a.m. from the mailbox”.

Before I digress any further, here are some of the pictures from the 1st trash audit.

Here is the Darden School news article on the trash audit.

- Hugh L.

Note: I will update this post once some preliminary figures are available from this trash audit.

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