UA hopes to boost recycling effort

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat Education freshman Joey Hailpern separates colored paper from white last week outside the UA recycling center, which is celebrating its 35th year of operation.

This year, the University of Arizona began recycling plastic, dotting the campus with more than 60 plastic-recycling containers. The UA's Pepsi contract, signed in June, placed a container next to each vending machine that sells bottles.

Since the UA does not profit from processing plastic, the program is "basically getting by," said Melissa Enrico, an administrative secretary for the recycling program.

The program's revenue, which covers operation and labor costs, totaled approximately $24,000 last fiscal year from recycling office paper, cardboard and aluminum, according to the UA recycling program's annual report.

Recycling staff members, who try to collect all recyclable materials the university uses, are incapable of processing glass, magazines and polystyrene, Enrico said.

Although the program has expanded to include more types of recyclable materials and pick-up locations, it needs more storage space, equipment and bins, she said.

"We want a larger space for recycling because we don't have enough room," Enrico said. "We are basically in a parking lot."

Expanding the six-person staff, which includes four part-time students, would increase the program's productivity, she said.

"When we get more money we would hire more students," she said, adding that it could then expand service.

During the past nine years, custodians have been an integral part of the program by collecting the materials, she said.

"Without the custodians' help there is no way we could be recycling how much we do here," she said. "They are the major force of recycling."

If everyone on campus made an effort to recycle, the center would be more profitable, Enrico said.

The program, started in 1989 by UA student Andrea Barton, began with office paper recycling bins located in four campus buildings, Enrico said. There are more than 190 sites that collect office paper, cardboard and aluminum.

About 300 tons of office paper, 185 tons of cardboard and 3 tons of aluminum were recycled last fiscal year, according to the annual report.

UA President Peter Likins sent a memo in March urging the university to step up recycling efforts, stating that the UA recycles half of the waste it should be salvaging.

Undeclared freshman Nicole Bilodeau said she supports expanding the recycling program.

"I think they should try to be more active with paper recycling," Bilodeau said. "If they put bins in easy-to-get-to places it would help."

Bilodeau said she cringes at the thought of tossing recyclable material such as cans, paper and bottles into the trash.

"I would feel guilty throwing them away," she said.

William Clar, a molecular and cellular biology freshman, said he recycles while on campus because his apartment complex does not have a recycling program.

"From what I see it is accessible," Clar said. "I'm usually just in the (Memorial Student) Union. I usually recycle cans and paper."

Rachael Myer can be reached via e-mail at Rachael.Myer@wildcat.arizona.edu.