Ben Sparks '87 Kicks of Sustainability Guest Speaker Series

O’Dowd’s 2016-17 Sustainability Guest Speaker Series was kicked off  during  Meeting Period (MP) on September 15, with Ben Sparks ’87 providing faculty and students insight on the world of recycling and waste. Ben is truly an expert in the waste industry, and is currently the Senior Consultant at Green Planet 21, a sustainable company specializing in recycling and zero-landfill. He also has years of senior level experience in other waste organizations, including being past president of the Stopwaste.org Board.

Ben discussed how recycling demonstrates the fundamental connection between matter, energy, and conservation. Throughout his talk students and teachers alike were invited to conceptualize just how much waste we produce locally and nationally. Ben also brought to life the interesting industrial recycling processes of various materials such as office paper, cardboard, plastics, and aluminum. The discussion included important “closed loop” brainstorming, showing the audience the creative ways in which businesses are recycling, reusing, and re-purposing. He also shared many fun facts along the way, for example: 1 ton of office paper saves 9 barrels of oil!