Making litter better

Lisa (Gutzke) Ellis, MBA ‘98, regularly enjoyed a morning walk on the beach near her home in Galveston, Texas, but she didn’t enjoy all the garbage that cluttered her view. On her route, she picked up trash every day to do her part. Still, it didn’t seem to make a dent.

Most of the litter she saw in Galveston was disposable cups, plates and utensils. Realizing she couldn’t eliminate the litter, she decided that at least it could be biodegradable. Inspired, Ellis founded BYOgreen, which sells high-quality, durable disposables made from either corn or sugar cane.

“I think there is a misconception that if something is made out of renewable resources, it will be flimsy. When we tell people our products are made from corn and sugar cane byproducts, it is interesting to see their reactions, because all our items are actually quite sturdy,” said Ellis. One of the most frequently asked questions about BYOgreen’s products is, “Can I eat them?”

The answer: yes. But it would be like eating paper, and it would have no nutritional value, Ellis said.

As a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in 1971, Jeff Jandegian '73, took an elective class in geology to fulfill his general education requirements.

That one class was the beginning of a career that has spanned more than 30 years.

Jandegian completed his bachelor’s in geology at UW Oshkosh in 1973. Today, the Wauwatosa native is vice president of Clovelly Oil Company in New Orleans — a small oil company with just seven employees and a handful of consultants.

Investigating drilling ventures is Jandegian’s primary responsibility. Clovelly focuses on southern Louisiana and the gulf coast in pursuit of oil and gas ventures. It drills primarily on shore and close to shore, from land or barge rigs.

Off shore drilling, Jandegian said, is done by much larger companies, due to the immense capital expense.

“Cost wise, a typical on-shore well will cost between $3 and $6 million to drill and complete. That same well off-shore could cost upwards of $150 million,” he said.

Rig and equipment costs while drilling can run $100,000 a day for on shore drilling, and as high as $1 million a day for off shore equipment. “And there is no guarantee you will find anything,” he added.

The recently lifted federal moratorium on off shore drilling is good news, on the surface.

“Technically, if companies wanted to go off-shore, they could,” he said. “However, states need to be required to follow the same rules as the federal government.”

The reason is that state law could stop a drilling project at any time, and financial implications are too steep for most companies.

Jandegian is hopeful that off shore drilling will help America in the long run. Brazil invested heavily offshore, found huge reserves and now claims to be energy self-sufficient.

Increasing off shore drilling actually may have environmental benefits, he said, because most environmental disasters have happened during transportation, not drilling.

“Personally, I would rather the source of crude be here in the U.S., not the Middle East, for that reason.”

Supertankers transporting oil in the ocean are targets for terrorist attacks, he added, and that alone is a very serious environmental threat.

He predicts the impact of unsightly drilling platforms would be minimal.

“It gets so expensive that if a company drills one well and finds something worth developing, it most likely will have as many as 25 wells coming off that one platform, like a spider web. It is too expensive to do it any other way.”

Shopping goes green

The Green Willow gift shop in Princeton, Wis., owned by Mike Schultz '76 (B), is making shopping better for the environment.

The store offers items that can reduce a person’s carbon footprint, such as toothbrushes made from recycled yogurt containers.

“It comes with a case for mailing, so when you’re done using it, you can send it in to be recycled again—this time into plastic lumber," he said.

Lumber made from recycled plastic is gaining popularity nationwide.

“It is strong and doesn’t rot,” he said. “It’s great for decks. You don’t have to stain it and there is no maintenance.”

Belts and wallets in the store are made from another recycled product – old bicycle tires. Yet other earth-friendly items are decorative pumpkins made from old chenille bedspreads, and outdoor art made from automobile hoods.

Art made from not-quite-perfect antiques are equally popular — such as just the headboard of a child’s bed and an old piano bench, combined to make a plant stand.

“Customers like the fact that we offer products that are re-used,” he said. “I would say the younger generation is more interested in buying them, but things are changing. I have noticed a definite increase in sales of these products within the past year.”

Schultz, who owns the store with his wife, Connie, keeps watch on shopping trends throughout the U.S., so the Green Willow can be among the first to offer unique products in the region.

“We like to think we are on the cutting edge,” he said.

The Green Willow is well known for its collection of organic coffees and teas, and for its wide variety of unusual plants, including Venus Fly Traps, banana plants and plants that resemble rocks.

“They flower twice a year,” he said of the “rock” plants, “and customers really like the fact that animals stay away from them.”

The store offers items from other countries, too, including corn brooms from Thailand and infant clothes made in Egypt from the country’s famous organic cotton.

All of the items that come from other countries are fair trade certified – which means workers who made them were offered a living wage and humane working conditions.

Schultz hopes his store’s recycled, re-used and fair trade products give customers an opportunity to take small steps that add up to a better world.

“Every little bit we can do makes a difference in this world,” he said.