The official Oxy Ground’s recycling website (http://departments.oxy.edu/facilities/Recycle/) says that today at Oxy we can recycle aluminum, containers with CRV, cardboard (without wax coating), glass containers, ledger paper, mixed paper, glass bottles and non-CRV, and newspapers. This recycling program earned us a B in the Food and Recycling Category of the 2010 sustainability report card, and as my parents always told me, “a B is below par.”
Occidental’s mediocre program fails to allow for the occasional possibly-recyclable-oddity that a student may run across during their four years (i.e. used printer ink cartridges, old batteries, Styrofoam, light bulbs, corks, aluminum foil, aerosol cans, 6-pack beverage rings, CDs, DVDs, and drink pouches / Capri Suns). Though these oddities may be rare, it is important that students are taught what to do with them when it comes time to throw them out.
Below is a list of possibly-recyclable-oddities and what to do with the items the next time you are standing between a trash can and a recycle bin wondering what to do with the old batteries in your hand:
· Batteries – There are tons of companies that will recycle your batteries when they are mailed in.
· Light Bulbs – Even the energy efficient light bulbs emit mercury when thrown into normal landfills. These need to be thrown out in special light bulb recycling centers.
· Ink Cartridges – These can be recycled in the Bookstore on campus which has a bin near the registers to collect old ink cartridges.
· Corks – Real cork is biodegradable. Fake cork can be dropped off at ReCORK America stations, which use the cork in footwear and other creative fashions.
· Aluminum Foil – not all recycling centers accept aluminum foil because it may be dirty due to potential contact with food. However, foil is just as recyclable as aluminum cans and can be thrown in the normal recycle bin if our company allows it.
· Aerosol Cans – These need to be recycled properly and can be dangerous and bad for the environment if they are not. These should be empty when recycled and can be placed in normal aluminum recycle bins if the company is okay with that.
· Beverage Rings – Known to harm dolphins when trashed, these are actually recyclable and photodegradable. The Hi-Cone Ring Leader Recycling Program collects these in large quantities for recycling.
· CDs / DVDs – Can be recycled at Best Buy or mailed into GreenDisk.
· Drink Pouches – TerraCycle began to use these in bags and pencil boxes. This company will pay for the postage for you to send them in.
Oxy should facilitate more recycling on campus by looking into recycling some, if not all, of the above products which, though rare, students will run across during their four years at Oxy.
The above information was inspired by the Huffington Post article on how to properly dispose of waste, found at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/10/proper-waste-disposal-pho_n_491672.html#s72999
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Thanks, I'll share this with the resources subcommittee of the sustainability committee.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this piece. I think the largest problem is how there are still so many more trash-cans on campus than blue recycling bins. I always have to look very hard to fin one of these bis. I know I will walk a extra 100 feet to the blue bins, but know that very few others will. There must be a one to one, trash can to blue bin ratio. This is something simple and I know we can reduce more. I was also curious if any of the trash is sorted later on.
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