The Elm Student Newspaper
College joins county in recycling
Ian May
Many returning students may have noticed the presence of the green recycling bins, differing from last year's bucket system. The green bins can be used to recycle glass, plastics, and aluminum cans, but unlike last year, paper products cannot be recycled.
Andy Miller, WC student and co-coordinator of the recycling program on campus - along with Whaland Clark, Grounds Supervisor - hopes to make recycling more efficient, less of a problem to the students and staff, as well as becoming more integrated with the Kent County recycling program.
With the new recycling format this year, the
old buckets were replaced by green
recycling bins.
Photograph by By Christina Vouros, Elm photographer.
"[WC's] recycling program was switched this year from the past system to county control," Miller said. "The program is trying to become more efficient and in-tune with the county's already existing curbside recycling system."
He explained why the switchover from last year's system to this year's system was made.
"In previous years, the pick-up of college recyclables had to be done separately from the rest of Chestertown, presenting a hindrance to their efficiency," Miller stated. "Recycling this year relies on the non-separation of materials at the source with curbside recycling, rather than the old method of separation at the source, which occurred in previous years and presented unnecessary steps."
The new method of non-separation also provides a more fair system for the college, Miller said.
"Separation at the source relies on the participation of the people that are recycling which was fair at best at Washington College. The curbside method allows the person recycling to 'dump' all the recyclables into the container," he explained. "Separation occurs with an actual worker that is getting paid to separate at the recycling truck, allowing the system to be more flexible."
Aside from this, Miller believes that this is a truly better system.
"Curbside recycling is nationwide, and students that come to the college are already familiar with it," he said. "It also involves less work and attention on my part, as it involves less resources and monitoring.
It is much cleaner, and efficient as well."Despite the efficiency of the new system, the college has lost it ability to recycle paper products in the dormitories and the some other buildings on campus.
Goldstein Hall, however, is the exemplar of this new way of including recycling in the college's development. There are recycling centers in the central part of the new building.
"The hopper situation has been found to not be large enough to meet our recycling needs," Miller said. "We are currently exploring other methods with the county. ... The goal of the Buildings and Grounds is to make paper recycling in-house, so we do not have pay for removal services; county removal is free."
The money issue has been a problem facing the program from the beginning, but with the coming of the Center for Environment and Society, Miller hopes that the policies will change.
"For the program to truly reach its full potential, my position should be at least a temporary full-time one instead of work study," Miller said. "Separate funding for the program, which has occurred at many other schools, is something that is needed. Many public colleges have separate recycling programs and offices."
The final hurdle to fully integrate the college into a recycling system has been to get the dining hall onto a program of recycling. The program there, though, proves both technically difficult and possibly unhealthy because of the presence of a compost heap on campus.
Miller expressed, "The dining hall could possibly be a model site for innovation and new recycling technology."
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