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University revamps recycling program |
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Thursday, 29 November 2007 |
 | Maxwell
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by LAUREN LAWSON
News Reporter
Following global trends, Appalachian State University is making efforts to reduce energy usage and increase recycling in academic and administrative buildings as well as around campus.
The ASU Recycles program recently received a new look alongside new improvements and additions across campus.
“Some of the new changes include a new logo, new [recycling] containers on campus, and new sorting procedures,” said Jennifer B. Maxwell, resource conservation manager.
Maxwell
said the program also put together a list of holiday waste reduction
tips for students that will more than likely be e-mailed to students in
the near future.
ASU Recycles handles academic and administrative building recycling,
while recycling in residence halls are handled by Housing and Residence
Life.
The program runs routes weekly to pick up the recycling, which is then
taken to Appalachian’s processing plant to be prepared for shipping to
the Wilkesboro Foothills Sanitation and Recycling Center, Maxwell said.
“We think the new changes will increase recycling…we have provided more
[recycling] sites and options on campus, as well as working at making
the sites more centralized and available,” she said.
Another improvement to the recycling system in buildings, including
Plemmons Student Union, is the new signage on recycling bins.
“The new bins have pictures and words, so you can’t really mess up,” said Steelie P. Pope, a freshman undecided major.
Pope said the additions and upgrades are good because they draw more attention to the recycling bins.
Maxwell said Appalachian processed about 450 tons of recycling in the 2006-07 school year.
“We have seen an increase in some areas of recycling…the area with the most non-recycled items is plastic bottles,” she said.
Maxwell said the lack of plastic bottle recycling possibly stems from
students being accustomed to the poorly labeled old containers.
Student programs coordinator Todd A. Mortensen said Maxwell is working
on increasing the number of stations and improving similarity.
“It is kind of sporadic right now. For example, how cans can only be
recycled in some areas of the union and not others, the program is
working on that,” he said.
Pope said it seems as though there are more recycling bins than trash cans in some areas of the student union.
“That can be more confusing to students who might throw trash in the wrong bin,” she said.
The program also makes recycling easier by combining some items such as
aluminum and steel cans into one bin and white and color paper into one
bin.
“We have also cut down on time and energy usage by changing from
servicing individual offices to providing a centralized site for
[faculty and staff] to bring recycling to in buildings,” Maxwell said.
Mortensen said Maxwell is also part of a subcommittee under the
committee in charge of greening initiatives in Plemmons Student Union.
“As a subcommittee, they focus on recycling, generally broad based
recycling, which can include anything from cardboard and cans to
compost and coffee grounds, anything that can be recycled in [the
student union],” he said.
Mortensen said students should pay attention to changes in the student union now and in the future.
Pope believes students may not be recycling because of “a lack of
education that it is there and available and that it really does help,
and just being too lazy to make two different trips to throw two things
away.”
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