Department of Residence Encourages In-Room Recycling

For University of Northern Iowa students who grew up hearing "reduce, reuse, recycle," staying green at college has become a bit easier.

     This fall, for the first time, all nine of UNI's residence halls, as well as the ROTH apartment complex, will have in-room recycling.  Over the summer, the Department of Residence purchased 2,800 recycling bins and distributed them to dorm rooms and ROTH apartments.  Additionally, each residence hall and ROTH now have a designated recycling room where students can take recycled plastics, tin, glass, cardboard and paper.  City Carton, an Iowa City based company, will pick up the materials in each of the recycling rooms every Wednesday, adding a Friday pickup if necessary. 

    This year's new recycling program was inspired by the Rider Recycling Revolution (RRR), a pilot program implemented last year by the UNI Recycling and Reuse Technology Transfer Center (RRTTC).  For the RRR, Rider Hall residents were given recycling bins for their rooms and were educated about the benefits of recycling.  The RRTTC conducted weekly measurements of the recycling, and found that recycling increased from an average of less than 40 pounds per week before the program to an average of 121 pounds of recycling per week.      

     Eric O'Brien, UNI sustainability coordinator, said the results of the RRR made it possible to convince the DOR that an in-room recycling program in all the residence halls could be effective, "Being able to show (administrators) real data of the growth we saw (in Rider) was tremendous.  We wouldn't have been able to get it off the ground otherwise."

    Rider Hall residence life coordinator, David Schmid, noted that recycling programs used to vary widely from house to house and residence hall to residence hall.  "The sheer fact that (the recycling program) is universal makes it so much easier," said Schmid. 

    Both Schmid and O'Brien said they have seen students push for more recycling opportunities and a more sustainable campus.  "There's been more of that social conscience that students bring to college. College used to be where you developed a social conscience," noted Schmid. 

    Pat Beck, assistant director of marketing and conferences for the DOR, said that she has also seen students thinking more about the environment.        "Sustainability is part of the marketing message for colleges now…We're doing this to serve our students."              O'Brien added that he hopes the habit of recycling will be something students take with them after graduation, "We're creating the leaders of tomorrow.  As they're moving out to the next part of their lives, we hope they can take this with them."

     UNI senior Spencer Walrath believes the program represents necessary progress for UNI.  "I think that UNI owes it to itself and the community to be conscious of how large of a footprint we have when it comes to waste production," he said.

    "Think about it: 14,000 students all receiving syllabi, magazines, flyers etc.; 14,000 students writing extensive papers every week; 14,000 students drinking a bottle of soda or water every day. We create a lot of recyclable waste. It's important for UNI to have a recycling program because we cannot afford not to."