Friday, March 26, 2010

PUD's Green Fail

So we got a box in the mail a few days ago. It was about 12*12*12.

Inside, were 5 "energy efficient" light bulbs, sent to us free from our Public Utility District.

Nice thought. Nice encouraging push to be "green"...to use energy efficiently and sparingly.

However...

it came packed in non-recyclable foam peanuts.

Hmm...

I wonder if they realize the irony.

The packing materials, transportation, paperwork, and human labor involved in getting those 5 light bulbs to our PO Box might well have been better spent elsewhere. Just think...the PUD serves thousands of residents and businesses (or at least hundreds). That's a lot of foam peanuts and cardboard boxes.

That's a lot of green FAIL to inspire us to be "greener".

I do see the point that people are more likely to use something they have in their hands...that is FREE...than something they have to purchase themselves (even if they are given a coupon, rebate, or gift certificate). People can be lazy and forgetful. So, I don't really fault the PUD that. But, they could have at least forgone the foam peanuts in favor of a more recyclable material like shredded newspaper.

Just a thought.

1 comment:

Melissa said...

Addendum...a few more complaints about the PUD's mission to encourage us to conserve energy: I just received my third flier in the mail announcing that these light bulbs would be coming. How much paper did they waste notifying the public of this "gift"? Also, the bulbs apparently contain mercury and cannot be recycled. Hmmm...AND, mercury is not supposed to be mailed. How did they get around that? Wow, the more I learn about this, the more I want to take the bulbs right back to the PUD and say, "Thank you, but no thank you."