Josh Gottlieb

6/4/09

Eng 145

 

Recycling at Cal Poly

 

            Every year, Americans throw away huge quantities of trash that can instead be recycled. Recycling is a task that is easy, yet our country continues to waste and ignore the benefits. In only three months, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild the entire commercial air fleet. Also, making one new can uses the same amount of energy as making 20 cans out of recycled material. Recycling decreases unemployment too. When 10,000 tons of waste is incinerated, one job is created, and six jobs are created when that amount is placed in landfills. By recycling the 10,000 tons, 36 jobs are created (facilities.calpoly.edu). So how can we reduce the vast amounts of waste? The best place to begin an investigation is within one’s local community, and for myself that would be at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

            It is essential to understand the reasons for recycling. According to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, schools benefit from waste reduction in several ways. It can reduce disposal costs, improve worker safety, reduce long-term liability, increase efficiency of school operations, and decrease associated purchasing costs (ciwmb.ca.gov/Schools/WasteReduce).

            Cal Poly recycles all materials that can be recycled, and is required to divert at least 50% of its total material from landfills (facilities.calpoly.edu). A recent and large-scale effort was made with the development of Poly Canyon Village. 75% of all the construction waste was recycled. The Compost Enterprise Project was another project that operated on a large level. The program created compost and diverted large amounts of waste. “All green material from the campus is mulched in place and woody material is chipped and then used onsite as ground cover,” (ciwmb.ca.gov/publications/Organics). Not only did they recycle, but they also reused the remnants of their own products. However, on October of 2008 the composting program was removed from Cal Poly. According to Mustang Daily it was “because the food waste and the manure waste were in too close in proximity to each other, among other reasons.” Although the program no longer exists at Cal Poly, composting now takes place at the landfill in San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly diverts 760 tons of manure and straw and 75 tons of wood waste is chipped and used as mulch cover every year. Rendering companies also receive 16 tons of tallow each year. Another program called the grasscycling program diverts over 240 tons of grass clippings each year from disposal. Through these waste management programs, Cal Poly not only reduces the amount of trash going to landfills, but also gains other economic and environmental benefits as well. From the Compost Enterprise Project alone, $30,000 is made in annual compost revenue sales. Aside from the financial aspect, there is a decrease in pollution from animal waste runoff and landfill greenhouse gas emissions. Due to less waste, landfill capacity is conserved resulting in a reduced need for other landfills.

Although there have been many impressive successes, there is always room for improvement. Where we lack is an area that relies more on the personal choices of Cal Poly’s students than on the school itself. The Mustang Daily published an article discussing the number of napkins that are wasted each year. With each of the 20,000 students using at least two napkins a day, around 15 million napkins will be used each year. 15 million standard napkins “could make a paper trail from downtown San Luis Obispo to Denver, Colorado,” (Mustang Daily). The amount of wasted napkins causes clear-cutting, linking it to flooding, erosion, and other disasters. The article suggests that a way Cal Poly students can help is to use a handkerchief instead of napkins. Whether or not this is realistic, the transition away from napkins or conscientious decision to recycle would cause a large reduction of waste. By students making a strong effort to throw away recyclable items in the blue bins instead of the grey, their efforts would transfer over to the protection of forests as well. One million acres of forest can be saved with a mere ten percent of recycled paper (Mustang Daily).

According to California state law, state entities must reach a 50% diversion rate from landfills. Cal Poly’s recycling coordinator, Richard Wagner, believes Cal Poly to be around 58%. Mr. Wagner stated that the on-campus dorms need the most improvement. Unfortunately, that improvement is only possible through the students’ and custodians’ choices. The school does its job and provides recycling bins right next to the trash bins. Still, a large amount of recyclable trash finds its way into the regular trash. He suggested placing advertisements around campus in an effort to encourage improved recycling habits in the students. By the school constantly advocating good waste habits, students will become more aware of their own habits. Mr. Wagner believes that the school can help more in the classroom by educating the students about the importance of recycling. Yet, recycling within the classroom itself requires improvement. Mr. Wagner commented, “I would have larger recycling bins and smaller trash cans if I could because so much of the trash found in classrooms can be recycled.” Some classrooms do not have recycle bins at all and he is working to change that. The custodial service needs improvement as well. Not every custodian makes a conscious effort to assure that all trash they encounter will make it into the appropriate waste dispenser. Mr. Wagner’s suggestion to improve custodial habits was to host meetings discussing the importance of recycling in hope of instilling those values within the staff. After our discussion, he took me to his office to show me a quote that represents his philosophy towards recycling. It read, “If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold or recycled or composted then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production,” (Berkeley Ecology Center).

            Recycling benefits the environment and the economy. A sense of hope for the future is possible as long as people are willing to make the efforts and recycle reusable materials. Our natural resources are threatened by the overproduction of modern society and we must come up with an alternative before there are no longer any options. By starting at a local level, it is possible to educate others on the importance of recycling and start a chain reaction that will eventually make a difference on a global scale.

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

 

http://mustangdaily.net/save-a-napkin-save-a-tree/

http://www.facilities.calpoly.edu/sustainability/RECYCLE.htm

http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Schools/WasteReduce

http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/publications/Organics

Richard Wagner, Recycling Coordinator for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

http://www.ecologycenter.org/