Lighten up, Francis.

I was sort of on a tear today. Possibly PMS, possibly just me being me.

We've been in our new building for a few weeks now and I still haven't seen any sign of a recycling program. This bugs me for several reasons but mostly because my company promotes environmentally sound programs for commuters and , I thought, recycling but... well, I'm just not seeing any love for the planet. I decided to look into it.

After about 30 minutes of searching I finally found someone who is in charge of our environmental program. I told her that I was disappointed in our lack of recycling. I pointed, for instance, that we had four trash cans in the kitchen but nothing for bottles, plastic etc. She explained that our city does the sorting. I was suspicious. I pretty much said "Oh, come on. Do they really do that?" She assured me that not only do they do it but they have a higher rate of success because there is no education to get out. Other cities fight to educate citizens on how to recycle and even then they don't always participate. This way everyone participates.

Hmm, well then how about all of the paper I waste everyday. Is that being recycled, I wondered. Well, that is supposed to go into a shredder. We keep individual recycling baskets at our desks and it's up to us to deposit our "clean" paper in the big recycling can. Ok, I can handle that.

I asked why nobody was telling us all of this. She explained that they had a whole communication program planned but (get this) management didn't like the design/logo on the buttons and email communications so they were re-designing it. What?! This is when it feels lame to work for corporate America. When the logo is more important that the message, an internal message mind you, there is a problem. I told my VP about it. She could only roll her eyes and agree that it was ridiculous.

In the end I apologized to our environmental expert for being a pain in the ass. She actually thanked me for taking the time to look into it. She was downright excited. She then took my name and info and asked if I'd be a contact for her. She asked if I'd mind being a mouthpiece to help spread the word. I told her being a mouthpiece was rarely a problem for me, it sort of comes naturally.

Well, at least I found out that I can climb off my high horse now. I've been recycling all the time. Phew, what a relief!