The recycling benchmark

In this ultra climate-conscious era, the university has taken pains to hop on the "green" bandwagon.

University President Dan Mote signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, and last year the school created a new Office of Sustainability. Energy-saving devices continue to proliferate.

So why are we such a laggard when it comes to recycling? Results came back last week for the first two weeks of the national Recyclemania contest showing the university to be 49th of 76 contestants in the grand champion category.

The school's recycling rate among select materials was less than half that of the No. 1 ranked Colorado State University.

Some student activists were unsatisfied with the preliminary results, but school officials say they're doing their best, especially given how young the university's conservation programs are.

In fact, the university has more than doubled the percent of total waste that it recycles over the last four years from 17 percent in 2004 to 41 percent last year. (Recyclemania uses a different metric.)

Organizers blame the university's lack of experience with recycling relative to its peers for its low ranking.

Cindy Felice, associate director of Resident Life, noted the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's many years of experience as a major factor in their high rankings. "The Office of Sustainability [here] is less than a year old," she said.

"It's an issue of changing people's minds," said Phil Hannam, a student coordinator with Recyclemania. "It's not going to be like the university makes one decision and the students all change their behavior."

Hannam recommends including sustainability issues in class curriculums to "teach them the value" of being eco-conscious.

Maria Lonsbury, a university project coordinator specialist involved with Recyclemania, said the university's standing against its own record is what's most important.

"In terms of our own experience, we're doing an excellent job," said Lonsbury. "We're making progress here at home."

The university has "thousands" of recycle bins on campus, according to Sandy Dykes, an assistant director in Facilities Management, though she couldn't quote a specific number.

The school's recycling budget is $250,000, which pays for bins, trucks and labor. The university's Recyclemania coordinators received a $2,000 grant from Pepsi, and officials expect to spend $8,000 over the course of the 10-week competition.

Still, the Recyclemania competition, which involves 400 schools across the country, provides a concrete snapshot of the university's progress that not everyone found impressive.

The results left some wondering if the university deserves the credit it has received. It was named the 15th greenest American college last year by Grist, an environmental news organization.

"I wonder if we really merit the title," said Joanna Calabrese, one of the university's student Recyclemania coordinators. "It's all about image. If you walk around [the university] it doesn't appear to be a green campus."

A lack of conveniently placed, uniform recycle bins and inadequate awareness are holding back the university's efforts, Calabrese said.

Calabrese will be leading a group of university officials on a "recycle walk" around the campus next week to reassess the university's recycling program.

Recyclemania organizers agree that raising the level of student involvement is the most important step in upping the university's rankings.

"There's a huge faction of the student body that just does not care, that don't understand the value of sustainability," Hannam said.

"The ball is in the students' court," Hannam added. "From a student's perspective, it's very frustrating to see such a high level of apathy with a large part of the student body."