Recycling!
So by now you've all had the chance to peer in your recycling and trash bins in your building. Any key observations? What seems to be the biggest obstacle to recycling in your building? What might we do to overcome that obstacle?
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 12:10 PM
31 Comments:
After looking through the trash/recycle bins in Harris I was really impressed that there was no contamination in the recycling! The trash bins however repeatedly had several items that should have been composted or recycled. Maybe to fix this problem make sure that the compost buckets are visible. I know I had trouble with this because they are so small and the rooms are dark so unless you turn a light on they are easy to miss. Also, maybe putting signs at eye level visualizing recyclable items and where our new snazzy compost bins will help too.
Cheers,
Lisa
I agree that one of the biggest difficulties is not contamination, but recyclable materials being thrown out. Signs might work well; I engaged in a propaganda campaign this week in L/L A, just keep pushing information on people until it becomes second nature.
Another big problem I've noticed is that some people simply hate touching refuse with their bare hands so much, that they don't compact their cardboard and the bins overflow with so much space still in them. Stuff falls on the floor and stays there. I feel so bad about it that I end up taking time each afternoon to tidy up the room. How can we get people to start being more careful about it?
I was impressed with the recycling in Wright. There was some contamination of tissues, paper towels and tape on the back of posters in the recycling. There were only a few jars and cans in the trash that shouldn't be. I found it interesting that there was one floor in particular that was not up to par. This was the 3rd floor and a majority of freshman live there. Maybe we should make more of an effort to educate first year students on how to recycle in Vermont.
-Jess
Agreeing with Lisa, I found that although there was no trash in the recycling bins of Simpson, there was recycling in the trash bins. I think to help overcome this issue we need to spend a great deal of time all over campus teaching students about the do's and dont's of recycling. Possibly we could organize some sort of seminar or program to help educate others on recycling. I can't wait to get involved and help inform people of this very imoprtant practice!
Best Wishes,
Emily C
I did my trash audit on a Sunday morning, so there was a good amount to judge from (although the fourth floor literally was pretty empty). Like Lisa found, it seemed like the recycling was pretty clean, but the trash bins had an amazing amount of recycling in it. I think that what some people do is put everything into one trash bag, especially when there are beer cans, so that there are bags of food, cans, tissues, etc, all in one bag which people most likely just throw into the trash. Does anybody think that it would be good to let people know that if you recycle something that shouldn't be recycled, it will get sorted, whereas if it's in the trash, it goes straight to the landfill? I don't want to encourage people to "contaminate" the recycling bins, but would that be better than having it all go into the trash?
What do you think??
See you soon,
Page
I was also very surprised at the lack of contamination in all of the bins. Of course there were a couple of items I noticed that weren't in the correct bin, but overall I was thoroughly impressed!! The biggest obstacle in my building is to let people know what food items they can compost. I saw some banana peels in the trash can and I think this happened because they didn't have their own compost bin for their room. I am going to continue to pass out empty yogurt containers to encourage people to compost!
Natalie
I did my recycle bin audit this weekend, which was also parents weekend, so the trash and recycling bins were full with various objects. For the most part I was really happy to see that there was little contamination in the recycling bins. However, on all three floors I found a lot of items in the trash (such as cardboard boxes, papers, and even plastic bottles!!) that should have been recycled. Maybe putting up posters about what can and can't be recycled right above the trash and recycling bins would help because sometimes I think people aren't sure if the item can be recycled so they just throw it in the trash.
-Stephanie Kiesow
Folks around here generally recycle. One obstacle is that unlike other buildings where each floor has a trash/recycling right next to each other, the bins are spread out, so folks who live closer to a trash can may use that exclusively, this is the trash that I found recycling in. Composting here is successful, because there is one kitchen so leaving the container in there makes it easy to use. One resident put the remains of his haircut in there last week, and I asked that he clean it out because the "ickyness" factor might discourage others from using it. He agreed.
-Kae
So I just completed my trash/recycling audit for UHS 2/3 and it was definitely interesting! One thing I noticed is that there aren't signs distinguishing between recycling and trash bins in several of the areas, which can pose a pretty big problem. Also, it seems as if people aren't aware of what gets recycled and what gets trashed. I saw things such as aluminum foil, Styrofoam and plastic wrappers in the recycling bins and compostable coffee cups in the trash bins. However, I feel like signs such as those in the Davis Center can really help point people in the right direction. Currently, I'm working on creating versions of those to put up in my building so people can learn what goes where and I think that will really help overcome some of the main issues.
Rachel
After my recycling audit in Buckham, I noticed that many recyclable items were in the trash. While I'm glad it was not the other way around, I think we need to encourage students to pay attention when they sort their trash. I can't be sure whether people are uninformed or lazy, we should work to inform them first of all. Signs with visual examples seem to be the best because they are so simple and apparent.
good day
Dan
I’ve found that the most Millis trash bins consistently have recyclable and compostable items in them. One of the major obstacles is that residents gather trash, recycling, and compost in a single trash bag in their rooms and do not bother to sort it once they get to the bins. I think that the most effective strategy in overcoming this issue is continuing to stress the numerous benefits of recycling and compositing.
Svetlana
I was personally very surprised with the two trash rooms in Wills. There was little to no contamination within the trash or recycling bins! I put up clear signs to designate which is which just in case there is any question of the two. I am placing my compost bucket out in hopes that I will have no "trash" put into them. It would also be a bummer if my bucket gets stolen! My bulletin board should be up tomorrow! Have a good week!
-Caroline
After I looked through the reycling and trash bins in The Honors college i was actuallly very surprised at how little was recycled and how much trash (that should be recycled or composted) there was on all floors. The main problems seems to be that the students are keeping large trash bags in their rooms an djust putting everything in them instead of having a trash bin, a compost bin and a recycling bin. Another observation i made was that there were only trash bins in the student lounge/study/kitchen areas...no recycling bins which doesn't make much sense. I think the biggest obstacle in order to get these kids to recycle and compost the right way, is to just constantly remind them by raising awareness and educating them. It's going to take time but I think they'll get it down.
-Sam Ethridge
After seeing all the recycling and trash, I was shocked at how much in the trash was recyclable or compostable! The recycling bins looked great though with little contamination. My first compost bucket was either stolen or thrown away, so hopefully the next one will be able to be used! I am putting signs up in all the floors of L/L C to make them aware of the composting- hopefully it will help to remind them too. I think the biggest obstacle with recycling is that people don't pay attention to what is recyclable and what isn't, so they throw everything away. I really think people will start to do better once they see all the signs up!
Molly
I was really impressed with how there was no trash items in the recycling. There were a few items of recycling in the trash though. I think L/L is doing a good job in general, although in the Fireplace lounge there are lots of items in the trash that could be recycled. I think this could be solved by posters put above the trash and recycling bins saying what can be recycled. This is probably not so much a L/L problem, but more of the general population that uses the Marche. RA's have also requested that a compost be put in the Fireplace Lounge. I think this would be really cool, and wonder if we could do that? All, in all, I'm really impressed!
Kristen
Mason could use a little work. I think with more information people will begin to recycle more. Bottles and paper are still in the trash but not as much as cardboards and plastic containers. I think people just don't know what can be recycled and are too lazy to sort trash from recycling. I think that maybe doing something fun with recycling could help. Also to make sure that there are signs that list what can be recycled in an eye catching way. But so far, pretty good job mason!
Peace.
Briana
So, I checked out Marsh's recycle/trash rooms...
Marsh 2 was pretty good. I encountered Lisa's same problem with recycle bins being virtually uncontaminated but the trash bins had numerous items that were recycle/compost items. Marsh 2 and 3 were lacking in the bin area. There were three trash bins and only one recycle bin (versus Marsh 2's three trash bins and TWO recycle bins). This lead to overflowing recycle bins which I think forces people to throw recyclabes into the trash bins because they're less congested. I'm going to approach my RD about this and see if we are able to recruit more recycle bins. I've also put up compost signs so people know the option is now available. Hooray for compost! See you all tonight :)
--winter
I took a look around and found that the recycling and trash bins in Christie are looking wonderfully clean and happy! However, I wonder if maybe the house keeping staff might take them out before they are full- possibly wasting bags? The biggest obstacle in Christie is probably just not having real Rally Recycle posters in all of the rooms- other than that, looking great.
Leigha
I can't say as many good things about the recycling situation in my building as Lisa can, but some floors were better than others. I saw that the ground floor, one of the ones with the least cross-contamination, had only two bins, one for trash and one for recycling. Maybe this made it more straightforward than the 2:1 trash:recycling on other floors. Also, the fact that the trash bins dwarf the recycling ones in most cases de-emphasizes the recycling, and often those fill up quickly, leaving no more room for recyclable materials. Also, I added much-needed stickers. :-)
I think one of the biggest things I noticed in Mercy was paper towels in the recycling bins. I guess because they are paper people were confused that they were recycable and not trash.
I also noticed that the housekeepers change over trash and recycling a lot, almost too much. This produces a lot of plastic waste. Maybe we could talk with them about emptying less?
Olivia
Well, I can't help but agree with most other posts: it doesn't seem that people know, or are willing to take that extra step to put something recyclable into the proper container. I'm hoping to make up some tiny posters of some sort to inform people.
Another massive obstacle on one floor in particular is that people believe that food waste (chex mix to tea leaves and most anything in between) is recyclable. I know that it all gets sorted at the MRF, but it's really frustrating that the food waste bin is right there, and people think that cheez-its can be made into... more cheez-its?
Any suggestions besides posters? I don't want to inundate my hall with picky tips and pointers...
-Mike
The biggest challenge to avoiding contamination between recycling and trash after, looking in UHN trash rooms, was the amount of food scraps that were in the trash. This can be easily alleviated by the compost bins. The problem with the bins is that they are too small to actually be functional, but they are a good transitional, symbolic step towards full blown composting in the dorm. I better size, I think would be 5 gallon buckets, like paint buckets. Also, there are no recycling bins in the lounges. i might just go through and drag one from the trash room into the lounges along with the trash bins.
-Kiren
Recycling in Wing has been going pretty well. However, like many other eco-reps have noted, the trash is what is being contaiminated with items that are recylable. Also I kept seeing alot of the compostable containers from the Davis center in the trash, which is a little confusing because composting in Wing has also been excellent. Maybe that is one thing to make better note of.
In wilks i didn't see much contamination in the recycling bins, yet a lot in the trash bins. I think that this is mainly due to people getting lazy, and not wanting to sort their trash. I think that if people were educated on the consequences of throwing away recyclable materials, as well as the benefits of recycling, they would sort their trash more. I also think that each room should be equipped with not only a recycling bin, but also a trash bin when moving in. This would make sorting easier in the room.
-Jenna
The recycling bins in Patterson i thought were in pretty good shape. It seemed to me that people were recycling the majority of things, and mainly just struggling with things they were unsure of. Overall I would say i was proud with the overall status. The hardest obstacles I think are making people realize the importance and helping them understand what can and what cant be recycled. The best way to overcome this obstacle would be to simply inform.
--Justin
I was very impressed with the organization and cleanliness of the trash/recycling stations in Living/Learning "B". In fact, they looked so clean, i was curious as to if they were even being used. They were! I did not see any sign of contamination in the recycling bin, however there were many items in the trash that belonged in the recycling. Signs such as those in the Davis Center would be very helpful.
Take Care!
-Hedda
At the beginning of the year, I found a lot of things in the recycling bins that should've been in the trash, and found a significantly larger amount of materials that should've been in the recycling bins but were in the trash cans. It was obvious that residents didn't know what to put where. Recently I put up posters in the trash rooms of my halls that have drawn out pictures of what goes where in the trash room, including what to put in the compost bucket. The signs seem to be helping, because when I go to sort through things and place them in the correct bins, I have found my job much easier than before : )
Two things that students need to pay more attention to, however, are squishing up pizza and other cardboard boxes (and placing them next to the bins so as to not waste space), and taking the caps off of bottles before putting them in the recycling bins.
~Mimi
In mercy everyone's doing pretty well, we did our audit in the morning though and they had already emptied the bins but this past Monday night we got to see the recycling and trash cans full to the brim. The first and third floors were doing a lot better than the second, which is all boys, but I think brighter or bigger signs could help there. It surprised me how much recycling the floors had, though. Both bins were absolutely filled. We attended an RA meeting as well and they really encourage campus clean ups or other efforts to educate the residents so we should definitely look into that.
Peace,
Sarah
When I did my reycling audit, I found that most people usually try to recycle but some things that can be recycled do end up in the trash. There are signs up in the trash room in L/L D and the room has been kept very tidy. I've noticed that if suites had some receptacle to separate their trash from recyclables more people would probably recycle.
Chittenden did pretty good as far as recycling! There was a little bit of contamination and the trash room needs some awesome signage, which i plan on getting done asap! our RD is super jazzed about getting all the eco-love done, so it's really great to have her on board helping us out! hopefully i'll get some colorful and bright signs up in the recyling room soon, just to get everyone excited about recycling!
After looking through the trash and recycle bins for Marsh/Austin, I would have to say that overall I was impressed with the little contamination I found in the recycling bins. What I was not impressed with was the stuff (paper bags, bottles, paper board, cardboard, plastic containers, shampoo bottles, etc.) I found in the garbage that could still be recycled. I was also disappointed with the amount of food waste.
I feel that we could have nearly zero waste if composting was made easier and we had only one garbage can and mostly recycling bins. I think that the reason any contamination was in the recycling bin was because they were right next to the entrance so people could get lazy and just throw their garbage in the recycling bin because they don't want to walk over to the garbage bins. The reason I think there was a lot in the garbage bins that could be recycled was because there is only one recycling bin and on some floors they are small versus having three garbage bins on most of the floors.
What would help: having more, larger recycling bins, less garbage bins, better composting. All in all it was pretty well sorted.
-Jen
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