Green Suggestion

The owners of the building I work in had a contest offering a prize to the employee that could come up with the best "green idea" that the building could implement. For example, one co-worker had the idea that recycling bins could be placed wherever regular trash bins are placed. If the offices in the building have recycling like mine does, the nightly custodial staff will take care of it. So adding recycle bins to the rest of the office building wouldn't incur a lot of extra cost.

I too have an idea. When I use the office bathroom toilets, they take about 3 flushes to complete the job. At 1.6 gallons per flush, that means 4.8 gallons of clean water are being used to get things accomplished. If you have a hard time visualizing 4.8 gallons, take 5 gallons of milk and a cup. Pour yourself a swallow into the cup and the rest of the milk into a drain. That's how much I'm using. It's probably more clean water than many have access to in a year. By clean, I mean that if it weren't in the toilet and coming out of the faucet you could drink it.

So the office should get some of the fancy new toilets that sound like a jet engine being fired up when you flush them. They get the job done, use little water, save me time and in some cases physical labor, and are immensely satisfying to witness. I'll take my prize now.