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University recycles for profits and for planet

J.R. Stewart, a full-time maintenance worker and sophomore at the University of La Verne, starts the Galbreath Baler. This machine, which uses an excess of 20,000 pounds of pressure, has reduced more than 100,000 pounds of recyclables since September 2002. / photo by Blanca Rocha
J.R. Stewart, a full-time maintenance worker and sophomore at the University of La Verne, starts the Galbreath Baler. This machine, which uses an excess of 20,000 pounds of pressure, has reduced more than 100,000 pounds of recyclables since September 2002. / photo by Blanca Rocha

by Kenneth Todd Ruiz
Managing Editor

More than one year after deploying a campus-wide recycling initiative, the successful program has netted more than 100,000 pounds of material and recently expanded to include a wider range of items.

The standing army of blue bins, stationed strategically around the school, have been reinforced with additional numbers and issued a strengthened mandate by the facilities management department.

No longer do they raise their lids only for cardboard and paper.

Give them your bottles, your cans, your crumpled masses of paper yearning to save trees, the wretched empties from your teeming floor. Send these, the unwanted, almost-tossed to them. Just lift the handle atop the indigo door.

According to Robert Beebe, assistant director of facilities management, it has never been easier to recycle on campus.

“There is now no excuse not to recycle,” Beebe said. “It’s now a case of staff, faculty and students doing their part.”

Beebe said that when the program launched on Sept. 1, 2002, it was an economic decision to collect only cardboard and paper.

“If you analyze our waste stream, those are the biggest recyclable items,” Beebe said.

Recycling revenue currently goes toward paying for the those lovely blue bins that make it all happen.

Commingled items, which is green-speak for glass, aluminum and plastic, are only worth about a third as much money on the recycling market.

After renegotiating the contract, they will now take just about anything recyclable, including glossy magazines, textbooks and phone books.

Facilities management will soon announce that the University has received a Waste Reduction Award Program award from the state.

ULV was one of only five education institutions to win the WRAP award this year.

“It shows we’re doing well,” Beebe said. “It shows we’re really doing something.”

He said the 45 metric tons of waste collected in just over 13 months is a tangible sign of the program’s success.

“The first thing I wanted to show is that this was not just a well-intentioned committee that produced little results, but a thoughtful, rational approach that would make things happen,” Beebe said.

But how the intentions of the program filter down the chain of command has been questioned by some.

All the eager blue bins in the world do little good if the late night crews, the unsung heroes of campus cleanliness, didn’t get the word on proper sorting methods.

From the blue bins, recyclables are handled by housekeeping employees, which requires coordination with Sodexho, the contractor that operates that staff.

“Everybody is aware of the recycling program,” said Assistant Manager of Housekeeping Halerie Vargas of her workforce. “If they see the bins are full, they bring them to the location for pick-up on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

Sodexho employees then cart the accumulated garbage to three hefty metal bins at central services. Appropriately enough, they are green in color.

Beebe said that while the university does gain financially from the program, it is not from the actual recycling revenue, which is relatively small.

“The key is not in what you get from recycling, it’s what you eliminate from waste disposal,” he said, adding that the University has saved more than $40,000 in trash bills due to the program.

Not to say the school does not need all the recyclable material it can process.

Altruism aside, the state mandates that the University recycle at least 50 percent of overall waste.

Motives aside, both the University and the environment stand to benefit from that extra thought before you toss.

Kenneth Todd Ruiz, Managing Editor
Kenneth Todd Ruiz
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Blanca Rocha
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