F.A.Q. 2
( 13 Answers to 13 Questions -From the Second Recycling Survey)
| 1) What happens after we put recyclables in the bins? Where does the recycling go? |
| Housekeepers pick it up on one of their rounds and bring it to the recycling Huts. Recyclables are picked up at various times during the week by a truck and driver and brought to the holding bins by Case and North Hall. Glass/Plastic/Metal and Cardboard is picked up by Waste Management and taken to a recycling plant near Albany (Albany?). Paper is picked up by Sierra Paper and taken to a recycling plant in Albany. |
| 2) Where on campus can I recycle milk jugs, metal cans, and cracker & cereal boxes (boxboard)? |
| Milk jugs and metal cans (once emptied and rinsed) can be recycled in the "Bottles & Cans" recycling bins. These are on every floor of the academic buildings and in every dorm kitchen. These bins are for all glass, plastic, and metal containers that are accepted by our recycler. Boxboard is not accepted by Waste Management, Sierra Paper, or the local Saratoga recycling center. Since it is already made of recycled paper it is not considered the same quality as corrugated cardboard and is not as highly in demand. Currently we have not found anyone who will take it. My suggestions? Find someone who takes their boxboard home to be recycled, make a cool cover for a recycled paper notebook, or even turn it into a postcard. |
| 3) Is it true that #1 through #7 plastics are recyclable? It seems too good to be true. |
| It almost is. Waste Management says you can, but when I inquired, I found that they do not recycle #6 -polystyrene (Styrofoam and certain types of brittle plastic). This includes all Styrofoam, and certain types of brittle plastic, like the sushi containers from the Spa. |
| 4) Why can't you increase the budget enough to buy a recycling bin for each Scribner house? |
| The recycling office (made up solely of the recycling intern) does not have a budget. Nor does it control the budgets of either the Housekeeping Department or Residential Life, both of which may be at liberty to provide the Scribner houses with recycling bins. You may want to make that suggestion to those offices. |
| 5) Is the school willing to fund a more serious attempt to recycle more? |
| You are certainly asking a good question, but addressed to the wrong person. What I can say is that funding this internship and allowing me to work here for part of the year took a little bit of money and a little bit of commitment. I think that a continuation of this internship, or a full-fledged coordinator position in the future, would take a significant commitment on the part of the school. Should they? I think so. Will they? You'd need to ask them. |
| 6) Where can I learn about the recycling program? |
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*The Recycling Website: hudson2.skidmore.edu/studentorgs/eac/recycle.htm *Weekly Environmental Action Club (EAC) meetings (every Thursday at 7:00pm by the Cyber Café) or email the group at: eac-list@skidmore.edu *There should be a recycle@skidmore.edu email address set up soon. There will also be two work study positions in the Fall ('02) in Facilities that will be able to answer any questions. Feel free to ask the ex-Recycling Intern any questions at m_patter@skidmore.edu until her email address changes. *Student Announcements frequently contain recycling-related postings. |
| 7) Are the items we're putting in the bins actually getting to where they are supposed to go -are they actually getting recycled? |
| Yes! There are many tons of recyclables that get picked up from this campus weekly. The reasons that you may see recyclables being thrown out could include contamination (housekeepers are supposed to throw out contaminated bags). And, as with students, there are some housekeepers that are more dedicated to the idea than others. Our program, as with all programs, may NEVER be 100% effective. A bag or ten may be thrown out; but for the hundreds of tons of recyclables that do make it annually to the recycling processors, it is worth making the effort. |
| 8) I'd like to know how I can recycle in Saratoga. |
| There are two ways to recycling in Saratoga. You can pay for curbside recycling or you can bring your recyclables to the Saratoga Recycling Center. Many landlords include recycling in the lease, so you will need to check with them first. Most curbside recycling services pickup on Wednesday mornings. The Saratoga Yellow Pages has a section on local recycling (on yellow, right before the Business listings). It lists the hours and what the recycling center accepts. |
| 9) What new changes for Scribner? |
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There were big changes that occurred in the Scribner Recycling/Trash huts in the Spring ('02). The President's Office allocated funds for this project. We cleared out the extra or broken bins and put new labels on the remaining bins. The remaining three bins (in each hut) are for: Mixed paper, Glass/Plastic/Metal, and Cardboard. Two small round cans are for bagged trash. The recycling bins contain liners, making removal of the recyclables easier. A weekly, or twice weekly, pickup will be scheduled for the rest of the semester. Scribner residents were be provided with an informational sheet explaining the new program. The Recycling Huts have an informational sheet posted outside. |
| 10) Are faculty and departments on board with efforts by the intern and students to improve recycling? |
| The majority of people are on board with the idea of improving recycling. The primary problem fall on a little bit of cynicism on the part of some, even environmentally friendly, faculty and staff, as well as a past system that was unclear, letting people going through the motions of recycling without a proper program being in place. This allowed for discontent with the nonexistent program. Because there was no education for the campus on recycling procedures, and a lack of clarity within Facilities, problems arose. However, the past few years have seen great improvements both in the efforts of Facilities to increase recycling and the effort of student groups to advertise proper procedures. This semester in particular, proper methods of recycling were given to all departments and offices on campus. While the effort to recycle still falls on individuals, departments, and offices, I feel that many are making the effort to do it right. |
| 11) Why doesn't the Tang recycle? |
| I have been informed that, because of their interior design scheme, they need bins that have a certain look to them. We only have one kind of recycling bin. I have not formally approached the curator, but can do so this semester. I also know that, like the library, no open drinks are permitted, however people who bring drink bottles TO the museum need a place to recycle them. Also, because they hold classes there it would be appropriate to have paper recycling as well. I hope to look into this matter soon. |
| 12) What is this internship all about? How are your relations with the Administration? |
| The goal of this internship is to bring out several aspect of our recycling program that are lacking: education, clarification, and research for improvement. Because recycling falls under the domain of several supervisors, all of which have many other job-related pressing obligations, there is typically no time to spend on these things. I've taken the time to thoroughly research how we deal with recycling at Skidmore as opposed to other Colleges, and how we could be doing better. I've helped create educational tools for the community so that everyone can know what's going on. Certainly I've helped them focus their plan for recycling so that there are some specific target areas that can get solutions. Although the President's Office is currently funding this internship, I work independently of them. I work most closely with the Facilities supervisors as well as CEC and student environmental groups. CEC has proposed an expanded version of this job for the Strategic Plan that would need strong administrative support in order to become a reality. However, I feel that the amount of commitment that simply creating this internship could be expanded upon in the creation of a more long-term official Environmental Coordinator position. |
| 13) What's being done to promote better recycling on campus? |
| A Recycling Website was created to give the community a source of information. Recycling Pamphlets were also created for Students, Departments, and Offices to further clarify the process. Informational emails have been sent out for such things as recycling cardboard, energy conservation, and inkjet cartridge recycling. In order to make the recycling areas more effective for the community, we've looked into buying new tops that will give people a visual reminder of what to put inside. In the meantime (before we get those) the bins are being labeled and color-coded as much as possible before next summer when they will be repainted. There is a plan to fix Scribner recycling. Once we are able to initiate these plans there will be massive advertising of the new process to students. Otherwise, there have been signs, announcement emails, and even several visible waste sorts to help the community learn more about recycling. |