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Labor of Love: Recycling
CD-ROMs Abroad
By Jennifer
Marty
Seems that
anymore, everyone is doing it. And it’s happening just about
everywhere–the office, in schools, at the gym, and of course
at home. Recycling has become a way of life for most folks.
Yet for Matt
Love of Washington State’s Department of Transportation (WSDOT)
Engineering Publications Office, recycling has gone beyond paper
and inter-office envelopes. It occurred to Love that each time his
office issued a new Engineering Publications CD-ROM, the previous
CD became a useless piece of environmentally unfriendly plastic
to his customers.
It’s
All Relative: What’s Obsolete Here Is Helpful Somewhere Else
Love also realized
that although the older CD-ROMS were obsolete for his customer’s
purposes, the information and examples on the CD’s could benefit
people not doing construction for WSDOT.
"I first
contacted International Programs and the Pan American Institute
of Highways at the Federal Highway Administration, and offered to
make the CD’s available for free distribution to their governmental
clients overseas," explained Love.
His offer was
met with enthusiasm and gratitude.
So in October
of 1999, Matt sent out a new batch of CD’s, but this time with
an accompanying letter requesting customers return the old CD’s.
The response was overwhelming-- by customers returning the slightly
outdated versions of the CD’s as well as the developing transportation
departments overseas receiving them. To date, Love has received
922 CD’s (two editions). These returned CD’s are now being
used in such places as sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the
Caribbean.
An Environmental
Plus and a Model for Others
"Matt
did great work by looking not only beyond the department (WSDOT),
but how our discards can help other people around the world. By
not just landfilling our "old" obsolete Engineering Publications
CD’s but making them available to others with less resources
should be a model for the entire department to consider when trying
to think outside the box to improve efficiency and reduce waste,"
stated Al King from WSDOT’s Highways and Local Programs Division.
Global Recognition
Love’s
recycling project continues to receive recognition from all corners
of the world. Under the guise "technical CD use program,"
Love’s project has been invited by the City of Stockholm in
Sweden to participate in the Stockholm Challenge–the
world’s only global contest of its kind for projects that show
how information technology can be used to improve living conditions
for people and strengthen communities. Love’s CD recycling
program will compete in the Public Service and Democracy category
and will be challenged by many pioneering projects. Winners will
be announced June 5th.
Whether or
not Love’s project takes the prize, one thing is certain --
the effort and dedication behind this project has made a positive
impact on many lives. And as Einstein said, "Ideas are a dime
a dozen. People who put them into action are priceless."
For More
Information
Perhaps your
agency or organization could recycle your out-of-date CD-ROM products
to help others. For more information, contact Matt Love, Engineering
Publications, Department of Transportation Building, Room SD7, PO
Box 47408, Olympia WA 98504-7408. (360) - 705-7430, Fax: (360) 705-6861,
or e-mail: lovem@wsdot.wa.gov.
About the
Author
Jennifer Marty
is the Public Information Officer at Washington State’s Department
of Transportation. Contact her at WSDOT/PO Box 47322, Olympia WA,
98504 (360) - 705.7079, or martyj@wsdot.wa.gov.
May 4, 2000
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