Recycling program concludes first year

The recycling program at Georgia College is wrapping up its first year on campus and has already cut the university’s landfill costs.

“We have deposited at least one of our 40 cubic yard containers, and I’m still waiting to hear back what the result of that was,” said Doug Oetter, environmental science club advisor. “We have certainly saved on landfill costs, so we definitely have saved money on how much we’re throwing away but I can’t tell you how much we might have generated yet.”

As the year comes to a close, Recycling Coordinator Jeff Brittain, who was integral in the start of the project, feels the program has come a long way since its inception.

“This marks the end of the second semester we’ve had the program going,” said Brittain. “We aren’t where we hoped we’d be as far as progress goes. We haven’t made the full transition to the residence halls yet.”

VictoriaGarofolo | gcsunade.com

Jeff Brittain, president of the environmental science club and recycling coordinator, helps Doug Oetter, the environmental science club advisor, with recycling efforts around campus.

“It’s going very well, more people have learned how to participate,” Oetter said. “It takes an educational program to help people understand what can be recycled and how to go about dropping it off.”

When issues arise it is usually due to contamination, meaning people putting recyclables in the wrong bins or items containing food waste.

“We’re seeing less people putting full beverage containers into the bins. I think they understand that makes a messy situation, when you drop a soda can into a plastic bin, and while it takes an effort, we appreciate people who drain their containers before depositing.”

Other than the bins located in building on campus, there are two drop stations that can be utilized for larger items or the students in the halls. The transfer stations, located at West Campus and the Centennial Center lot, are open at different points throughout each week.

The collection bins are located in 21 places around campus for students to utilize and are picked up on a volunteer basis.

“I’m happy with what we’ve been able to do, we’re lucky that we have the locations we do and have the support from the school that we do,” Brittain said. “But it’s going to be a struggle for the program to continuously be lead on a volunteer-basis.”

Brittain hopes in the future a part-time student position could be created to oversee the program.

He also hopes soon to get a recycling program set up in the residence halls.

According to Brittain, the recycling program is currently embarking on a new project. “Thunder Cup and the recycling program have teamed up to put on a week-long recycling competition in the residence halls,” he said. “It’s a trial run to see how bins in the halls might play out.”

There are a few things Oetter also thinks could be improved for the future.

“We still don’t have a good solution for cardboard and shredded paper. If we could get shredded paper into bags we could have our student volunteers collect it as is,” Oetter said. “And with the cardboard, if the people who generate the cardboard would break it down and flatten it, then we think we could collect it that way as well.”

During Earthfest, the Environmental Science Club plans to do another waste audit and compare it to the results of the one done before the program began to compare the items generated to see how much of a difference the program has made in the amount and types of waste generated on campus.

“I feel like we have enough invested up to this point in the program,” Brittain said. “I’m confident it will continue to expand.”

Posted by Katelyn Hebert on Apr 14 2011. Filed under Lead stories, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.