Our New Year’s resolution is to make improvements that are kind to our environment.

Our facility is pretty green to start with. We have carpet made out of recycled fibers, and the flooring in our teen area is made out of old tires.

We recycle paper, ink cartridges and broken cell phones.

We utilize a geothermal system and converted all of our lighting to LED.

And when we discard old IT equipment or dead batteries, I schlep them to the appropriate recycling place in Indy.

But still, our work is not done.

In early 2019, we started talked about a bottle-filling station in our main lobby.

They aren’t cheap, and so we hemmed and hawed about it and put it off for a later time.

We’ve had patrons recommend that we get one, and we would tell them we were thinking about it.

Then, like a Christmas miracle, an anonymous donor came forward and gifted a check so that we could install a bottle filler.

Once it was installed, staff lined up to fill their reusable bottles and giggled with glee as the counter went up, tracking every bottle saved.

We have plans for 2020, too.

We thought it might be fun to sell cute little bottles at the front desk to encourage patrons to reuse and recycle.

Beginning in March, we will use a new trash vendor who is able to provide an affordable solution for recycling cans, bottles, plastics and cardboard.

We don’t figure the Pendleton library will save the world.

But we are making a concerted effort to be greener, because we know every little bit helps, and together we can make a difference.

That seems like a good resolution to me.