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Recycling survey will show if students use added recycle bins

Written by Andrew Williamson

Monday, 29 October 2007 07:51 PM

The Environmental Health and Safety Office began the second part of their waste management survey Monday at University Hall.

Avery Environmental Services Inc., the environmental, health and safety consulting firm conducting the research, first took the measurements of garbage collected and determined the approximate percentage of recyclable material collected from the trash cans at University Hall.

The second phase placed additional recycling bins and removed trash cans from the building to increase the amount of plastic, paper and aluminum products students can recycle, safety specialist Becky Valentich said.

During the next two weeks recyclable materials in the trash will again be collected and measured to be compared to the first measurement’s data, she said.

The rest of the campus will move or add the containers if it’s determined that a reduction in paper, plastic and aluminum products were recycled instead of just thrown away in the trash, Valentich said.

Michele Smith, an environmental consultant with AES, was the one who looked at the number of bins in University Hall and determined how many were added and where to be placed.

“When we came in the door we looked and saw where there were opportunities to recycle,” Smith said. “We’re going from two recycling containers here to 10.”

The main place picked to add more recycle bins was the lecture halls on the first floor of University Hall, because a good amount of recyclable materials has been left there and not thrown away, she said. Those located in less accessible areas were moved to a more convenient place on either side of the main stair well.

Smith also put them in the student break room that contains vending machines, near the building’s west exit facing Cooper Street.

Forensic science junior Laura Gonzales thinks increasing container numbers will encourage fellow students to recycle more and thinks that increasing the number of students that recycle will also help in other ways.

“I mean if I see it, yeah, than I put it in there,” she said. “If you buy something that’s made from recycled stuff it tends to be cheaper [too].”

Smith said while students at the university are probably more willing to recycle, but many of them won’t if they have to go out of their way and thinks that the key is to make the bins easier for students to access.

“If it’s as easy as throwing it in the trash can, people will do it,” she said.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 27 November 2007 03:59 PM )

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