EARTH grows only a fraction of that total, shipping about half a
million boxes of bananas to Whole Foods each year. But officials
say that the green measures pioneered at the school are steadily
being adopted by other growers. For example, standard banana
plantations tie plastic bags around budding bunches to protect
the fruit from scarring and to keep out unwanted pests.
Discarded, pesticide-covered bags often wind up clogging rivers
and watersheds, so EARTH began a plastic-bag recycling program.
(Watch a video of Edward Norton describing the environmental
impact of plastic bags.) "When we started [recycling bags]
people laughed at us and said it couldn't be done," said Panfilo
Tabora, an EARTH professor who heads an organic teaching farm on
campus. Today almost all banana growers in Costa Rica have
adopted bag-recycling programs. The Dole Food Company, one of
the largest banana producers in the country, annually recycles
about 1,900 tons of plastic. Dole also recently signed an
agreement with the Costa Rica