2008 Woodie Awards
Campus recycling program 'struggling'
Student group says grant money, purposed for paper recycling, does little to increase plastic receptacles
By: Shawn Dooley
Issue date: 3/2/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Webster's Outdoors Club is leading the charge for improved recycling, while Webster's Facilities Department struggles to maintain the work load of the recycling program. With recent budget cuts, the recycling program was affected, making it harder to maintain current duties.
Quinn Gardner, treasurer of the Outdoors Club, said there are people on campus that try, in various ways, to improve the recycling.
"Recycling is not a priority of the university," Gardner said.
She also said the current recycling program is inadequate.
"There is one canned soda machine, all (the rest are) bottled soda machines, but the Sverdrup building has all can recycling bins," Gardner said.
"The recycling program is struggling right now," said Jodie Vogler, the grounds supervisor. "The majority of the focus is on paper recycling because more than fifty percent of the universities' waste is paper, plastic only accounts for three percent of the waste."
A major setback for the university's recycling program came when the contracts for the vending machines were changed from canned soda to plastic bottled soda. Vogler says that the student recycling program was set-up to pay for itself and the university would pay for the waste that the offices dispense, which is mostly paper. When the contracts changed, the university wasn't getting as much money back as it did with can vending machines. The money that was coming from the recyclable cans was paying for
the program.
"There are bins already on campus that aren't being used," Gardner said. "They sit in the parking garage, yet we have limited places to recycle."
Vogler argues that the bins can't be put out because the labor is already limited and if there are more bins, then that means that they'll need more money to be spent on labor emptying the bins. On the average the bins are only being emptied once a week.
There was a $25,000 grant given to the university from Waste Management that was specifically designated to help improve paper recycling. The grant comes from tax dollars that Waste Management puts back into the community. The grant was set up to pay for bins and a pick-up vehicle, but the university pays for the labor. The Outdoors Club wants a part of the money to help improve plastic recycling.
Quinn Gardner, treasurer of the Outdoors Club, said there are people on campus that try, in various ways, to improve the recycling.
"Recycling is not a priority of the university," Gardner said.
She also said the current recycling program is inadequate.
"There is one canned soda machine, all (the rest are) bottled soda machines, but the Sverdrup building has all can recycling bins," Gardner said.
"The recycling program is struggling right now," said Jodie Vogler, the grounds supervisor. "The majority of the focus is on paper recycling because more than fifty percent of the universities' waste is paper, plastic only accounts for three percent of the waste."
A major setback for the university's recycling program came when the contracts for the vending machines were changed from canned soda to plastic bottled soda. Vogler says that the student recycling program was set-up to pay for itself and the university would pay for the waste that the offices dispense, which is mostly paper. When the contracts changed, the university wasn't getting as much money back as it did with can vending machines. The money that was coming from the recyclable cans was paying for
the program.
"There are bins already on campus that aren't being used," Gardner said. "They sit in the parking garage, yet we have limited places to recycle."
Vogler argues that the bins can't be put out because the labor is already limited and if there are more bins, then that means that they'll need more money to be spent on labor emptying the bins. On the average the bins are only being emptied once a week.
There was a $25,000 grant given to the university from Waste Management that was specifically designated to help improve paper recycling. The grant comes from tax dollars that Waste Management puts back into the community. The grant was set up to pay for bins and a pick-up vehicle, but the university pays for the labor. The Outdoors Club wants a part of the money to help improve plastic recycling.