Environmental Damage Lab

Kristian Murray
January 26th, 2016

There are countless things in our world that cause harm to the environment,
many of them can be found close to home, in our neighborhoods and towns. One of
the first places that I noticed an environmental problem was at my place of
business. I work in the office of a parcel delivery center. Throughout the day we
print off a large variety of papers from maps, customer information, package
tracking, to other various documents. By the end of the day we end up going
through over half of a ream, around 250 pieces of paper. One tree can produce
anywhere between 10,000 to 20,000 sheets of paper (assuming that the tree
contains roughly about 10 cubic feet of wood). That would mean in about 80
workdays we go through an entire trees worth of paper. We are just one small
center in one small town that is part of an international corporation. We have
attempted to recycle the paper that we do not have use for anymore but we were
swiftly shut down. Due to a lack of a standard set of regulations for recycling set by
the company, we must throw away all of our unneeded paper.

A way to correct this problem is for the company to come up with regulations
that would enable us to be able to recycle all the paper we use instead of throwing
it in the trash. Regulations that would answer such concerns as, what paper we are
able to recycle, if we would be required to shred the paper beforehand, if we need
to take the recycled paper to our local recycling center or if the company will put
together a pick up for the recyclables, along with a number of other inquiries. When
an international company recognizes a need to be environmentally friendly and
comes up with new ways to do so, it encourages its employees to become more
environmentally conscious as well.
Information collected from:
-

www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2014-4-july-august/green-life/how-much-paperdoes-one-tree-produce

Environmental Damage Lab

Kristian Murray
January 26th, 2016

Another environmental problem that I was made aware of are the emissions
that come from Enids Koch Nitrogen plant and the resources that they consume. It
is a nitrogen fertilizer plant that also involves ammonia expansion, and urea
brownfield. The EPA ranked Koch as #3 in the state for toxic releases in its Toxic
Release Inventory Report. The Koch Nitrogen plant is responsible for 1,805,872 mt
CO2e emissions. Along with the large amount of CO 2e emissions, Koch also
currently uses six million gallons of potable water daily. The average African family
only uses 5 gallons of water each day.
Koch is already is the works of reducing its excessive use of natural
resources. It has started a 1.3 billion dollar expansion that will bring between 50
and 60 full-time jobs as well as reducing its usage of drinking-quality water to
almost 5 million gallons a day. It will process on gray water that will be discharged
from the city of Enids wastewater treatment plant. They have also reduced its
emissions of chromium compounds to less than 499 pounds. It may not seem like a
huge reduction on natural resources but it is a start in the right direction.
Information collected from:
-

https://ammoniaindustry.com/enid-ok-koch-industries/
http://www.enidnews.com/news/koch-nitrogen-expansion-to-benefitcompany-area/article_62d51636-b4c2-11e4-9a8b-bb00814fd9e4.html
http://ghgdata.epa.gov/ghgp/facility-screen.htm?
prevPageId=ResultsList&facilityId=1002407
http://ammoniabmp.colostate.edu/link%20pages/ompacts%20of
%20ammonia.html
http://www.waterinfo.ord/resources/water-facts

Environmental Damage Lab

Kristian Murray
January 26th, 2016