The UNM Bookstore has added recycled notebooks and poly-carbonate water bottles to its shelves as part of an environmentally conscious marketing trend.
"We're just starting to do some green initiatives," said Melanie Sparks, Bookstore director.
She said the green efforts are the beginning of what could be a storewide transition.
Terry Horger, director of the Sustainability Studies Program, collaborated with Sparks in hopes of bringing environmentally friendly products to the Bookstore.
In addition to the notebooks and water bottles, the Bookstore offers canvas shopping bags, recycled fair-trade paper from Nepal and soy-based clothing, including socks and shirts. The eco-friendly options are a bit more expensive than the store's regular fare, Sparks said.
Sparks said the green products come from vendors hired at the Campus Market Expo, which she attended this summer.
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"We started looking into different vendors we might be able to utilize to bring in green products," Sparks said.
However, some students don't think the Bookstore's efforts are beneficial.
"I don't think it's effective, because the profits aren't going to help anything environmental," said Vanessa Morris, a political science major. "If they really wanted to help, they would donate the proceeds to the environment rather than just back to UNM."
Senior Kevin Arnold was glad to see the green aisle at the Bookstore but said more could be done.
"At least they're doing something," Arnold said while examining a recycled notebook. "At the same time, though, this notebook is probably going to get thrown in the trash. Maybe they should have a program where you could re-recycle it."
Unsold products at the Bookstore are not thrown away, Sparks said, but are marked down until they are sold. She said unsold textbooks are donated.
While the number of green products available for purchase is limited to one aisle behind the staircase at the Bookstore, Sparks said she anticipates the selection will improve and the prices will decrease.
As the market becomes acclimatized to green products, Sparks said, the prices will become more competitive against other non-environmentally friendly products.
Sparks stressed that the Bookstore is open to student input.
"I definitely want to know what students are saying," she said.
Dwane Dean, a professor at the Anderson School of Management, said the Bookstore's green initiatives stem from a competitive market trend toward eco-friendly products.
"If the other bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Borders are doing it, it probably makes sense for the Bookstore to do it as well," he said. "It's probably kind of a copycat thing aimed at doing what the other competitors are doing."
As for some environmentally friendly and potentially cost-cutting endeavors the Bookstore can take on, Dean recommended adopting digital textbooks, which save paper and eliminate distribution and printing costs.
