Glass recycling finds funding on campus

MARK CAPAPAS

Recycling and trash bins lie near the west courtyard of the Union on Wednesday. The University offers more than 3,000 recycling bins around campus including glass deposits.

BY LUIS VELAZQUEZ, STAFF WRITER
OCTOBER 10, 2019

A glass recycling bin located in the Illini Union Courtyard surprised associate director of Facilities and Services for Sustainability Morgan White because she thought the University does not partake in recycling glass. Although many bins around campus only have places for plastic, paper, cardboard and scrap metal to be recycled, the University Housing Dining Services still funds glass recycling.

More than 3,000 recycling bins are available throughout campus in dorms, as well as public facilities where plastic bottles, paper, cardboard and scrap metal can be recycled. 

“A few times in the past 30 years, we have reviewed the materials that go through the F&S Waste Transfer Station, and we found that there is a very small amount of glass,” White said in an email. “Recently, Waste Characterization Studies were done for (eight) buildings on campus, measuring the exact amount of waste materials produced by each of those buildings.”

According to White, Dave Guth, interim senior associate director of operations at the Illini Union, said, “This is probably one of the last remaining fiberglass bins we have in the building. The old containers had a separate stream for glass bottles and aluminum cans/plastic bottles.”

White said although small amounts of glass come from campus buildings, the University Housing’s Dining Services have chosen to fund glass recycling.

According to the Waste Management and Recycling website, “The University ‘diverts about 30% of its waste from landfills.’”

With help from the F+S Waste Management Department, the University is aiming to reach its goal of reducing the total amount of waste sent to landfills. The University’s objective is to obtain a Zero Waste Campus environment, as indicated in the Illinois Climate Action Plan.

The Waste Transfer Station, a facility for recycling goods, operates daily compacting and shipping trash to a landfill. However, the recyclables that come from campus are manually sorted and deposited into storage bins. After being compressed in a different bin, they are sold to recycling companies.

Nichole Millage, environmental sustainability specialist for the City of Champaign Public Works Department, said the city offers glass recycling, but does not actually collect or process trash. This job is done by other companies, such as private solid waste haulers.

“The City manages a multifamily recycling program (Feed the Thing), but the pick-up services are contracted to a private hauler (Midwest Fiber Recycling in Urbana),” Millage said in an email. “Per City Code, all licensed residential solid waste haulers in the City of Champaign are required to accept glass for recycling from residents.”

Lesly Ortega, sophomore in LAS, said she believes since the University does not tell students to recycle, the majority do not properly recycle trash. However, Ortega is glad the University offers this option in general.

“I feel like glass is used a lot more now,” Ortega said. “A lot of the refreshments sold in vending machines or in stores are accompanied with glass, so instead of it being thrown away, it should be recycled.”

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As part of Illinois’ effort to improve sustainability, new recycling and landfill collection containers have been distributed to buildings on the Urbana campus.

This first set of containers can be found in Gregory Hall, Lincoln Hall, English Building, Henry Administration Building, Wohlers Hall, and the Physical Plant Service Building. By fall 2019, 113 containers will be deployed across campus, primarily in first-floor hallways to divert recycled products away from the landfill.

The containers feature three top openings with easily identifiable and color-coded labels for either “landfill,” “paper,” or “bottles & cans.” The acquisition and distribution of the new collection containers was coordinated from the office of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, the F&S Waste Transfer Station, and by Pete Varney, associate director of Operations, Maintenance & Alterations, Transportation & Automotive Services.

“We are striving to add consistency to receptacles across campus,” said Varney. “We’ll continue to increase the number of containers over time, but we want to get a big impact out there now. We want to start someplace where they will be seen, they will be noticed, and they will have an impact.”

The containers will help continue to raise awareness about the importance of recycling on campus, according to Shawn Patterson, transportation manager.

“What we see is, ‘Just throw it in the trash can and [F&S] will recycle it,’ and that is something that sets a bad example for us, for the students, and for everybody especially going forward. We need everyone’s help to make sure we are recycling the right things, and these containers will make it easier for students, faculty, and staff members to help us accomplish the university goal of an increased recycling rate.”

The Waste Transfer Station diverted 26.2 percent to recycling in FY2019, with a goal set by the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) of 30 percent by 2020 and 35 percent by 2025.

For more information about the program, contact Associate Director of Operations, Maintenance & Alterations, Transportation & Automotive Services, Pete Varney pvarney@illinois.edu, 217-333-7583.

Currently, the Illini Union has a variety of water fountains in the facility, totaling 16 units. Select fountains were retrofitted in 2009 with “goose-neck” style bottle filler fixtures, however these are susceptible to damage and not filtered. Ten units in public areas are funded for replacement in this project with Elkay fountains that have built in bottle refill stations. These water fountains will make it much easier to fill water bottles than the current water fountains and provide filtered, cool water to students and guests. These fill stations will also track the number of bottles saved from the land fill and will provide this information on an LED screen at the top of the refill station. The LED screens on each water fountain can be used as an educational resource for all users. These new Elkay water fountains will encourage everyone to refill their water bottles because each unit provides a real time digital display of the number of bottles saved from the landfill.