By
Maya Schechter
Arizona Summer Wildcat
In a tiny corner of the University of Arizona campus, someone is trying to make a difference in the world.
Well, make that some people - a group of people who are deeply committed to making the world a better place to live.
Their daily tasks include compressing tons of cardboard, collecting bags of aluminum and distributing containers to different campus buildings.
Simply put, these people are attempting to reduce, reuse and recycle - a motto that's commonly recognized but not always followed.
Through the UA's Recycling Office, Residence Life and Student Unions, students and staff are hoping to increase the amount of recycling on campus in an effort to make it a safer and cleaner place.
A ton of work
Five student workers, a couple of full-time staff members, and a constant flow of volunteers make up the university's Recycling Office, located at 1609 E. Seventh St. Their goal is to educate the campus community on the importance of recycling, all while managing their own compound filled with tons of materials.
"We are trying to increase our visibility on campus and getting people to really think about recycling," said B.J. Cordova, a student worker at the office.
Cordova, an environmental science and Spanish senior, spends his time in between classes driving a golf cart around campus and collecting a ton of recyclable goods - literally.
During the 2000-2001 academic year, the Recycling Office - run through Facilities Management - gathered about 2.3 tons of aluminum, 1.6 tons of plastic, 208 tons of cardboard and more than 300 tons of office paper and newspaper combined.
The university also generates tons of green and brown waste, which includes grass and leaves, egg shells, small chipped wood, and cow, horse and sheep manure.
About two dumploads of greens are taken to the UA's Agricultural Center on North Campbell Avenue about twice a week.
Cordova started the greens recycling project two years ago. Since then, the compost has been used to fertilize the center and UA's athletic fields.
Scrap material from the campus construction projects are also collected, but the contractors have been asked to remove most of the materials on their own. Otherwise, the amount would overwhelm the Recycling Office, Cordova said.
After the goods are sorted at the campus compound, they are picked up by Recycle America, a Tucson company that weighs the materials and pays the UA for them.
But not all recycled products are paid for, said Bill Savary, program coordinator at the Recycling Office.
The university receives money from most of the recycled materials, which goes back into the office's budget.
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MICHELLE DURHAM
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Alana Levine gathers cardboard Monday morning that has been collected from around the university to be assembled into bales for future recycling.
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"We don't get that much money from aluminum because mostly plastic containers are sold on campus," Savary said.
Increasing awareness
Savary said one of the ways he hopes to increase recycling at the UA is by trying to have one bin for all materials.
"It would be much easier and convenient for people to recycle - they won't have to walk all over campus looking for specific bins, they can just put all the products into one bin and (Recycle America) will sort it," he said.
Drew Berns, an education senior, agreed with the occasional inconvenience of recycling.
"I'll recycle my cans if there are containers outside my classrooms, but I don't want to have to walk around with the can all day if I don't see a bin near me," he said.
Savary said another way to increase awareness at the UA is to educate the campus community about what can and can not be recycled.
"A lot of everyday things can be reused, such as campus mail envelopes and file folders," he said.
In addtion, the University of Arizona Recycling Council - made up of representatives from both campus and Tucson recycling organizations - meets once a month to discuss issues and ways to improve the program.
Alana Levine, an evolutionary biology senior, said there has been much progress in recycling since she joined the Recycling Office staff nine years ago.
However, there's always room for improvement, she said.
"No one has to lobby to keep trash cans on campus, but we always have to lobby to maintain our program," she said.
"It's part sociology, part muscle and part innovation to keep our program going."
Most of the recycling on campus doesn't even come from students, she added.
"The biggest waste generators are full-time workers, which is who we try to target the most. They're the ones throwing out office paper and cardboard when all of that can be recycled."
"Our program is successful - we recover more than 500 tons of goods on campus," Savary said. "But we know there are so many parts of campus we're not covering. We just want to make everyone aware and hopefully it will make a difference."
Making treasures out of trash
Two of the UA's biggest sources of recycling and reusing come from the first and last weeks of the school year.
Working with the Recycling Office, Residence Life gathers about 15-20 tons of cardboard each August when students move into their residence halls.
Debbie Hanson, project and environmental coordinator for ResLife, said she is expecting to see even more cardboard this year because of the increase of students living on campus.
"We'll be setting up cardboard corrals at each residence hall and encouraging students to recycle their boxes rather than throwing them away," Hanson said.
ResLife will have volunteers standing by the doors of the halls to show students how to separate trash and cardboard.
"Otherwise, the residents and their parents wouldn't notice where to put the boxes - this really helps our program," Hanson said.
"What really helps to make this a success is the joint effort between campus recycling, and (UA) grounds and labor - who collect the trash from the dorms. They'll also keep cardboard out of the trash bins."
Savary agreed.
"There is enough confusion as it as (with dorm move-in) and the students will just throw everything away at the first place they see. This way, we'll be there to direct them."
"We'll be working until the wee hours of the morning," Levine added.
Move-out week in May is also a big operation, Savary said, because students have clothes, food and appliances they don't need anymore. Rather than throwing it all out, local charities will take them as donations.
Tucson's Salvation Army collected stereos, plastic storage containers, computers and boxes of food that students were planning on throwing away, Hanson said.
"Usually the clothing donated to Salvation Army is 40 percent non-usable, but 99 percent of the clothing they got from the dorms were usable," she said.
A positive response
This year, ResLife recycling will incorporate two new projects - battery recycling and recycling totes.
A battery container will be placed in each hall and when full, it will be taken to Risk Management, who will properly dispose of them because of hazardous materials.
Residents of Gila, Maricopa, Coconino, Hopi, Yuma and Yavapai halls will have a recycling tote to keep in their own rooms. When full, students can take the bags down to the dorm's central recycling area.
"Our goal is to eventually have the totes available for all the halls, but we're working on funding for it. So for now we put them in the halls that recycle the most," Hanson said.
ResLife also has a year-long recycling program, done through the individual halls, Hanson added.
In addition to two paid students who coordinate recycling efforts, each hall has a recycling chair, sometimes even three or four co-chairs, who volunteer to manage the activities. ResLife only collects plastic and aluminum, but if the chairpersons want to recycle newspaper or other materials, it is their responsibility to have them collected, Hanson said.
The money that is received from recycling goes back to the hall that the materials come from, which is a good incentive for residents to recycle, she added.
ResLife also holds a monthly contest to see which hall has recycled the most, based on pounds per resident. The hall that comes in first place will get a banner to hang in their lobby that says they are the "Hall of the Month."
Michael Friedman, a psychology senior and resident assistant, said he encourages his residents to recycle.
"There are recycling bins in each wing of the hall and in the lobby, so there is no reason they can't recycle," he said. "Plus, the hall government gets the proceeds."
Hanson said she is pleased that ResLife's recycling program has grown so much in past years.
"We used to have to beg students to volunteer. Now our phones ring off the hook with students who can't wait to help."
Stepping in the right direction
Annette Labayan, a psychology senior, said she recycles both at home and on campus, especially by using the Arizona Recycler Mug sold through the Arizona Student Unions.
After a one-time purchase of the mug for about $2.50, soda refills are only 62 cents, Labayan said.
Although she admits she only used the mug to save money, she soon realized how important it was to start saving resources.
"There is so much waste from paper cups, not to mention the plastic lids.
It's so important to recycle because so much is wasted in our society. It'll impact the future a lot more if we don't take drastic measures to reduce waste today," Labayan said.
Hanson and Savary both said the UA's recycling programs have made improvements on campus and will keep working to make a difference.
"Making an impact on the environment is the best part of my job," Hanson said. I know we have a long way to go, but we have taken a step in the right direction."
