“Out with the old” may be a familiar phrase this time of year, but the College wants to be sure that the “old” gets recycled, not thrown away. To that end, some exciting new programs have been added and existing ones improved.
For the first time, the College will be participating in “RecycleMania,” a national competition promoting waste reduction activities on college campuses. Schools report recycling and trash data and are ranked in various categories. The event runs through March 27, and the College will be entered in the non-competitive “benchmark” division. Campus recycling efforts will be monitored and reported. David Wiseman, manager of library information systems and co-coordinator of the College’s Sustainability Advisory Group, says that the most important benefit of participating will be that the committee will gather data that they can use for comparison in the future. “We intend to improve our program as a result,” he says.
Another new program that will be initiated this semester is the placement of bottle and can crushers in the residence halls. Funding for the equipment is provided by a grant from the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges. Since plastic bottles are the most space-consuming and awkward to handle of all recyclables, compacting them should decrease the number of trips that the large trash trucks have to make to our campus, saving gas and money.
In its recycling efforts, Roanoke College partners with the City of Salem, which provides collection bins on campus. A student recycling coordinator and student recycling assistants supervise the weekly collection of materials from the dorms. The College has recently improved the program with the addition of a mixed paper bin to the recycling area in the Chesapeake Hall parking lot. All paper except corrugated cardboard, wax paper and paper soiled with food or other contaminants can be dropped off in this container.
Although newspapers can be left in the new mixed paper bin, the City of Salem prefers them to be recycled separately, because the city can sell newsprint for a higher price than it can sell mixed paper. The nearest newspaper recycling container is located near the City of Salem courthouse on Calhoun Street, just a block or two from campus.
Corrugated cardboard can be dropped off at one of two bins on campus. One is located behind the Colket Center and the other is in the upper parking lot near Olin Hall. Wiseman explains that these locations were chosen for their proximity to areas that generate the most recyclable corrugated cardboard.
In an effort to encourage recycling on campus, the College has been testing a pilot program in Trout Hall, which Wiseman says is currently the “greenest” building on campus. A collection area has been established in the building, and the materials are collected weekly by the student recycling crew. Wiseman says that other academic and administrative buildings are being evaluated now, and more will soon be added to the program.
As these programs grow, so does the need for more people to get involved. The student recycling assistants group is always in need of volunteers to help with the collection.
More information about recycling and sustainability efforts across campus is available on the College Web site.
At Roanoke, it’s “in with the new” as we find newer, greener ways to send out the old.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
When we were looking at other colleges, in our selection process, we noticed that Maryville College, in Tn. had a collection at the end of the year for things that were still GOOD that the Sr.’s did not want to bring home since they didn’t want them anymore, and the college housed the items in great condition over the summer in a basement, and offered the INTERNATIONAL students who often come without alot of items a chance to “buy” these items very cheaply and then they would not have to go out and get someone to take them to town and put out a lot of money for these things. I am not talking about clothing… but microwaves or small refrigerators or other small items, like laundry racks, pots and pans, etc.
I believe a FRATERNITY organized it, and the money that was made was donated to a local charity.
Perhaps Roanoke could look into that.
Everyone would benefit from such an exchange, rather than throwing out perfectly good items that get trashed.
I fing great irony with the last atetement made in this post. Roanoke college should not boast “At Roanoke, it’s “in with the new” as we find newer, greener ways to send out the old” when the motto of recycling is “REDUCE, reuse, recycle”. Apparently the college must not have gotten the memo.
Sincerely,
Carrie Carson
Assistant recycler