As efforts to preserve the environment are being stepped up nationwide, the University is making recycling a focal point for 2006 and beyond.
“We have been working with facilities, purchasing and the student Committee on Environmental Quality to expand the recycling program at the Hilltop Campus,” said Bruce Backus, assistant vice chancellor for environmental health and safety.
“We want to include more waste streams and add more recycling containers around the campus.”
A new recycling contract should allow the University to expand the amount of paper products, aluminum, glass and plastic that is recycled.
The University’s new recycling vendor, BJ Partnership, provides a wealth of opportunities for the University to reduce its general trash by as much as 50 percent, all by just paying attention to what can and cannot be recycled, and into which bins the materials should go.
“We currently recycle around 20 percent of the glass and plastic in the waste stream, but we hope to be able to increase that to 90 percent under the new contract,” Backus said. “Paper recycling will now include any paper product that tears, including phone books and paperback books, as long as the paper is not contaminated with food, oil, wax or water.”
Types of bins
“Up to 100 additional recycling containers will be placed around campus,” Backus said. “If the new vendor can deliver as promised, we should see some improvement in recycling rates.”
An advancement in recycling is the advent of “mixed paper” bins. Think of it as accepting “anything that tears.”
No longer do you have to worry about the plastic address windows in envelopes or the higher-stock glossy paper for ads and mailers. With a flick of the wrist that would make David Letterman proud, it can all go in the same place.
Mixed paper is an emerging program in waste-paper-fiber recycling that allows combining all clean waste paper products including phone books, magazines, mail (including plastic window envelopes), sticky notes, copy paper, stapled documents, folders and boxes from food products.
Excluded items include the hard cover from a book, corrugated cardboard and any item that has food products on it.
Another container commonly seen is one labeled “co-mingle.” This program includes all clean common food, drink and household product containers and packaging. However, wax-coated drinking cups are excluded from this.
Questions about the program can be directed to the following people:
• Interior containers — Jan Schade, facilities; 935-4472.
• Exterior containers — Paul Norman, facilities; 935-4533.
• Residence hall interior containers — Curt Harres, residential life; 935-5074.
• Program details — Donna Hall, environmental health & safety; 935-4650.