by Amy Borer
Staff Writer
Americans throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet every three months, and the number of glass bottles or jars U.S. citizens throw away could fill the 1,350-foot World Trade Center in New York every two weeks. The average American throws away four pounds of trash daily, which is twice as much as Europeans or Japanese generate, according to the ULV Recycles pamphlet distributed around campus.
As of the beginning of September, the University of La Verne has developed an on-campus recycling program so each person on campus can do his part to help reduce the trash in landfills.
“As an educational institution, it is our social responsibility to take a leadership role in recycling,” said Bruce Baron, vice president of Administration and Finance.
With the help of Brian Worley, director of Maintenance and Operations, and Maria Castaneda, director of Housekeeping, Baron set up the program over the summer.
Currently, the program consists of recycling centers around the campus in which the ULV community can dispose of paper, glass and aluminum.
Eventually, every faculty or staff member will have a desk-side recycling bin for paper and every department will receive a large green bin for newspapers, magazines, brochures and other paper items. Small recycling centers are also being placed around campus with separate bins for newspaper, glass, aluminum and other waste products.
As the bins fill up, the Marriott housekeeping staff empties them into special dumpsters, which are picked up by the Waste Management Corporation. While Waste Management usually charges the University a fee for each container of trash picked up, the fee is being waived for the recyclables.
The program is of no cost to the University, with the exception of the initial cost of the bins and the publicity to educate students, faculty and staff about the program.
“Most of recycling is education and awareness,” said Baron. “Many of the things we can do to recycle and reuse is just changing our habits.”
Other things people can do to reduce the amount of trash is to drink from refillable mugs, use electronic mail instead of paper memos and make copies using both sides of the paper.
To oversee the program, a recycling committee has been formed, which consists of students, faculty and staff. It is the committee’s responsibility to come up with new ways to recycle and educate peers.
Future plans for the program include recycling grass clippings, which can be turned into compost, and a variety of projects to educate people about recycling. Bins for recycling plastic products will also be added around campus.
Baron stressed the fact that the committee would like to hear from students who have ideas about the program.
“The campus has really risen to the occasion with the amount of feedback we’ve gotten,” said Baron.
