The Westport Library Green Task Force is a committee that was formed to implement a strategic goal adopted by the Library's Board in 2009. The task force consists of six library staff members including one administrator. The first meeting convened in February 2009 at which time we shared ideas for purpose, direction, and goals. We voted Kris Nash and Nancy Kuhn-Clark co-chairs of the committee and George Wagner adviser/consultant. We decided that the first order of business should address immediate building related issues. We agreed that the first priority would be to obtain and strategically place RECYCLING BINS around the building. Other projects included researching energy efficient refrigerators to replace two old clunkers in the staff room and maintenance room; ways to raise staff awareness to avoid everyday energy waste, like turning off lights, computers, fans and copier machines at night. Finally, we decided to invite someone from the town's green advisory board to come and talk to us.
March 25, 2009: At our second meeting, we had special guest Kim Lake and Frank Grazynski. They learned a little about who we were, and we learned about the Town Task Force which was established in the Spring of 2007 for the purpose of figuring out how to reduce the carbon footprint in the town of Westport. The town's mission was to try to reach a 20% reduction in its carbon footprint by 2010.
The Green Task Force convened on June 15th at 2PM. Highlights included:
George’s announcement that recycling bins have been purchased and will be placed in various parts of the building for paper only (no newspaper). The official kick-off date for recycling paper at the library is JUNE15th. We also discussed how we will accomplish recycling bottles and cans since our garbage hauler would charge extra to provide that service. New refrigerators will be here soon. We also discussed programming, how to get high school students involved, fundraising efforts including offering green beverage mugs for sale at the café, and re-cycling our cartridges to Staples for $ (or credit). Demas volunteered to take cartridges to Staples and a box is in the server room for dropping them off. George started delivering

The GreenTask Force met again on October 19, 2009. Highlights of the meeting were as follows:
Signage will be provided in conference rooms and the Mc Manus and Seminar rooms reminding users to turn out the lights when they leave. Reading Room newspapers will be recycled at the end of the week. We looked at a guide to recycling produced by the town of Greenwich. We will find out if the town of Westport produces any similar publication- if so we will make it available at the library. Energy Star rebates will be active before the end of the year. Our new refrigerators will be purchased as soon as these rebates are available. There was further discussion of the green beverage mugs and how to use them in some creative way. An event for staff is being planned for January.

The Green Task Force met on November 23, 2009. Highlights of the meeting were as follows:
Promotion Commotion will send sample cups for us to look at. There was discussion of dollar tote bags and whether our customers would like to have this option in addtion to the $4 library bags. The question arose of using donated used plastic bags for customers who do not want to buy a bag. It is unclear whether the ordinance banning plastic bags in town refers to bags being reused, or just new plastic bags. We will find out. Copies of the Town of Westport sheet of recycling information will be made available in the bins under the community service bulletin board. The library is investigating expanding our cafe to include locally produced foods. Larger recycling bins have been added in busy areas.