On-campus recycling to start in May

GCSU is going green. At least that’s the plan, according to a recent decision by the Student Government Association to formally establish a campus-wide recycling program.

Tentatively set to begin May 1, the program would begin upon completion of one recycling center at the Centennial Center and several stations around campus, and in residence halls, for students and faculty to separate their recyclables from trash.

Another recycling center would be added later, at West Campus, according to the plan outlined by Kevin Murner, GCSU’s associate director for energy management, utilities, and emergency preparedness and occupational safety.

“At the Centennial Center, we would have a site wholly devoted to recycling,” junior SGA Sen. Robert Aycock said. “We’re looking at adding separate containers to divide the types of recyclables, and possibly removing the dumpsters from the center altogether to avoid problems with people throwing away their recyclables.”

Aycock serves as the head of an SGA sub-committee focused on recycling on campus. Last semester, Aycock worked closely with SGA Vice President Kayla McCollam to create a proposal for campus recycling, which they discussed and revised with Dr. Doug Oetter, faculty advisor for the Environmental Science Club, as well as Murner and other interested faculty and students.

“I’m very excited about (the project), a lot of people did a lot of hard work on it, and it’s so great to see everybody come together like this to get it done,” Aycock said. “It’s such an aggressive plan, so that hopefully by the very beginning of this summer, it’ll be up and running.”

Senior Chelsea Losh, the chief of education for the Environmental Science Club, expressed her delight with SGA’s decision.

“We’re ecstatic about finally getting recycling going on campus, the whole club and myself,” Losh said. “We’ve been working on it for two years now, with our recycling drives on Front Campus and the push for the green fee.”

According to Losh, Oetter recorded a high weight of 4,800 pounds of recyclables processed by the club during a single recycling drive.

“I think (the figure) just shows that students will recycle, if given the chance to do so,” Losh said.

At a Jan. 29 recycling meeting, McCollam presented facts and figures about waste disposal, and recycling for GCSU, and referenced recycling programs at other Georgia universities. According to McCollam’s research, the University of Georgia saves up to $9,000 a month simply by recycling office paper and composting. Georgia Tech has 11 recycling stations on its campus, and issues every employee a desk-side bin for paper and aluminum cans. GCSU is now joining its larger relatives, and if the numbers McCollam has presented are accurate, the school could save over $25,000 annually just from the process of separating trash from recyclables and disposing of them efficiently.

The first recycling center, according to the proposal, would be located adjacent to The Depot and Parkhurst residence hall. It would be surrounded by an 8-foot fence, with a main gate for trucks to access it. It would also feature sidewalk access for students and faculty, proper signage, and lighting for night-time safety around the facility.

A “green fee” of $5 added to student fees for this type of program at GCSU was voted down by the state Board of Regents last spring, but those who worked on getting the project done did not give up; instead they simply altered the process for funding.

McCollam is working with the Coca-Cola Company to try and obtain the small bins needed for residence halls, offices,and other locations on campus. The larger containers at the Centennial Center and West Campus will be provided by the contractor wins the bidding process, and that company will provide transportation and processing of the recyclables. GCSU would receive a portion of any profit from the sales. The contract will be awarded to the winning bidder in April, allowing time for setup of the facility prior to the target start date.

“The green fee idea was the first step in starting our move toward this program, and we’ve kind of built off of that. There is a seed program that gives us some money, but there’s also the partnership with Coke for a sponsorship, and of course the contractors possibly helping us out with funding,” Aycock said.

“We have to wait for all the bids to come in the next few weeks, and everything should be set up by the beginning of May. So, by the beginning of next semester, we’ll have a full-fledged recycling program on campus.”

Posted by Preston Sellers on Feb 19 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry