Stephanie Obst
Andrew Budnik
Service Learning Project
Project: From Blue to Green
We have partnered with Waste Less Wisconsin for our Service Learning Project. Waste
Less Wisconsin was founded by a coalition of more than forty five local governments, state
agencies, non-profit organizations, businesses, schools and environmental organizations. Its goal
is to promote learning and leadership in waste reduction and recycling to help participants make
real world changes that reduce waste, converse resources and prevent pollution.
We were given complete control over what we wanted to do to help Milwaukee "waste
less." Although it was hard to think of something that has not been done, we started thinking
about the piles of stuff in our closets. Most people have an old pair of jeans or two in their closet
that they do not wear. So we started thinking what we could do with them. We thought well we
can donate them to a re-sale shop like Goodwill. The only problem, if a family is really in need,
they would not spend their money on clothes. They would spend it on food. So what else could
we do?! We could recycle old jeans into denim insulation.
Before we start talking about the benefits of denim insulation, we need a little bit of
background on insulation. The most common form of insulation is fiberglass insulation.
Fiberglass insulation is used in walls, floors over crawl spaces and attics. The main ingredient in
fiberglass is silica sand. The sand is heated to where it is able to melt and flow into liquid glass.
Then, the glass is spun into fibers and is collected and sprayed with binders and shaped into large
blankets. It is then cut into strips. The advantages of fiberglass insulation is that it is relatively
inexpensive, light-weight, dries out if it gets wet and retains R-value and it has good R-value per
inch. The disadvantages is that it can be a skin irritant when handling, does not block the wind,
can be blown around if the attics are improperly vented and does not provide an integral vapor
barrier.
Denim insulation is a new wave hit for green home building projects. It is made from
recycled denim cotton fibers. Denim insulation does not contain the toxic formaldehyde backing
found in fiberglass. Fiberglass is on the government's list of probable carcinogens(proven in lab
rodents). It's great for indoor air quality. The insulation manufacturing process is nowhere near
as energy intensive as the mining and production process required for fiberglass. Denim
insulation has a higher insulation value per inch than fiberglass and it's just as easy to install. It is
also LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, the green building
standard for developing high performance and sustainable buildings. Not only that but the denim
insulation removes toxins and carcinogens from the air, which trigger both asthma and allergies.
The denim used to make this insulation would have otherwise ended up in a landfill.
At Hackensack University Medical Center's newest building is denim insulated. Suzen
Heeley, the director of design and construction at Hackensack University Medical Center in New
Jersey, said, "We were looking for an alternative to the traditional fiberglass insulation, which
contains formaldehyde, which we know is a toxic element. Not only does the insulation provide
patients healthier air, but the installers were not experiencing the traditional itch that they felt
with fiberglass. 98% of the new Women's and Children's Pavilion at Hackensack has denim
insulation. It's thick, so it holds more heat and absorbs more sound."
We partnered up with The Gap and Cotton Incorporated and launched "From Blue to
Green." 1,000 Gap stores across the nation had a denim drive from March 5 through March 14th.
Customers across the country could donate their old denim at The Gap and they received a thirty
percent off coupon for their new denim purchases in the store. Their old denim would then be
given "new life" by being converted into Ultra Touch Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation. Since
Cotton Incorporated started this program with The Gap about four years ago, over five hundred
and fifty homes have been insulated with denim. Cotton Incorporated has expanded its reach
through different partnerships and retailers. Cotton Incorporated then provides Habitat for
Humanity the insulation.
Now landfill use has gone down. Americans have been recycling and becoming more
environment friendly for years. However, there are still over sixteen hundred landfills in
America and their capacities are almost full. We are wasting away beautiful land that we could
be enjoying for recreation. Landfills are known to contaminate air and drinking water supplies
with pollutants such as cyanide, mercury, dioxins, and lead. We do not want our children
growing up around this pollution. That's why we chose to recycle old jeans. We are saving these
landfills from being filled. Locally, we are saving landfills. But because we partnered with two
organizations and went nationwide, we are saving land through the country.
Project: From Blue to Green also addresses differences and inequalities within the urban
environment. Landfills are normally located in land that is not in use. However, a very wealthy
person would not build their house near a landfill. Somebody that does not have a lot of money
may have to take a house or apartment near a landfill because that's all they can afford. Running
a denim drive saves these landfills and helps these differences. Wealthier people have more
clothes in their closet, which leads to a greater potential of items they do not wear. We are giving
them this outlet to help back and not fill the landfills.
Not only will be will helping to reduce the overcrowding of landfills, but we will be
helping families from all over the nation. Something that we found to be extremely gratifying
was how we were trying to find something to help the local the communities out, but in the end,
we helped families in need all over the nation. These families are the ones who really are in need
as well. With the help of clean denim insulation we helped provide families not only will have a
healthier home, but they will also be able to cut back on heating expenses. What we mean by
this is because the denim insulation is thicker than normal insulation; families will no longer
have to run their heat or air conditioning as often as they would normally need to. In the end, this
also helps our environment greatly. Not only were we able to help keep landfills less crowded by
reusing the jeans, but we were also able to find a way for families to use less natural resources.
This is huge accomplishment we feel because we started with an idea that could help people in
Wisconsin, but what we realized that what we were doing had a huge impact on the nation.
In conclusion we feel that being partnered up and working with Waste Less Wisconsin
has not only had a great impact on the environment, but also an impact on ourselves. We have
both learned so much about things we can do that help really make a difference in our planets
safety. We have seen firsthand that something as small as a local jean drive can turn into such an
important event. We helped Cotton Incorporated, The Gap, Habitat for Humanity, and many
families as well. As long as everybody is willing to take a small step forward, something great
can happen. Overall we can both say that what we did really impacted the environment and are
sure that if events like jean drives continue, families in need and our environment will have a
happier and healthy future.