February 21 , 2006
NEWSRecycle bins getting thrown out with trash
The Environmental Action Club, the Green Group and staff, is teaming up in an effort to expand the Mesa Community College recycling program and create a more ecologically aware campus.
The MCC Green Group met for the first time Jan. 31 and discussed recycling green waste, kitchen grease and plastic.
“I look around and there are machines after machines pumping out soda bottles with no place for them to go,” said Beatty Dimit, a student member of the Environmental Action Club.
The Environmental Action Club conducted a survey last semester asking students general questions about recycling. While 73 percent of students thought MCC was ineffective at recycling, 90 percent wanted to see MCC recycle plastic.
“I have noticed aluminum bins but all the vending machines are plastic,” said Leanna Gerlach, an MCC student.
Steve Bass, geology professor and leader of the Green Group explained the problem with recycled plastics is its low demand. Recycling companies lose money when recycling plastic.
“There is always the question, is there a market for your product? If not, it could be thrown in with the trash,” Bass said.
There are recycle bins on campus where the contents are thrown in the garbage. An example is a bin in the AS building that has one compartment for trash and another for recyclables but everything goes into one trash bag.
“If you take the top off, it goes into the same bin, the custodians trash that out,” said Dane Azevedo, a part-time student employed by MCC grounds keeping to pick up cardboard and paper for recycling.
MCC at the Dobson and Southern campus as well as the Red Mountain campus currently recycles cardboard and paper. Azevedo has a route around the Southern and Dobson campus mostly in faculty buildings and the library.
“In bulk, it would be the library,” Azevedo said about who recycles more on campus, “They empty out two weeks of newspaper.”
Richard Cluff, the facilities manager at MCC, found Friedman Recycling to accept plastics.
“We need to identify a location for the dumpster and set up bins,” Cluff said. “The biggest challenge is getting people to throw the bottles in the right containers.”
Currently the only site on the MCC campus for students to recycle cans, paper and plastic is in the Life Science Building and the Social Cultural Building. Ron Dinchak, the advisor for the Environmental Action Club and an MCC science professor has members of the club and work study students empty the bins in the Life Science Building. He personally takes them to a city recycle center.
The Jazzland Café, an MCC coffee shop located on the Southern and Dobson campus recycles its cartons and plastics. Brain Setterding, the owner of the café, also bags and takes the empty containers to his home.
Setterding was surprised to hear MCC didn’t recycle plastics after campus grounds keeping told him they could not recycle his milk cartons.
Setterding then discovered the recycle bin across from his café was actually getting thrown into the garbage.
“That was really the slap in the face,” Setterding said.
Some students on campus take recycling seriously.
“Personally, I save everything, even the things I can’t recycle at the time. I rinse my containers out because I know the city may throw them away if they are dirty,” said Ellen Guarco, an MCC student member of the Environmental Action Club.
Students who live in residential neighborhoods find recycling easy because Mesa picks up curbside recyclables.
“Most of my trash ends up in my car and gets recycled at home,” said Leslie Jett, an MCC student.
However, other students live in apartment complexes where no recycling program exists.
“We live in an apartment and there are no recycling bins,” Gerlach said.
Ryan Paulk an MCC student member of the Environmental Action Club saves bottles as well as used batteries despite living in an apartment.
Bass allows some of his students to use his residential curb to recycle their product when they cannot make it to a center.
“Some departments will be more proactive than others,” Cluff said.
Cluff explained recycling will remain in the hands of individual departments even after plastic recycling comes to MCC.
“It takes individual leadership.” said Bass about recycling within departments, “There is the frustration that the concepts we teach in our curriculum are not being demonstrated.”
Bass suggested students should be exposed and involved with the recycling process on campus as a learning experience through service learning and science labs.
The clubs on campus understand the effect of not recycling has on the environment and meet for the reason to implement changes.
“Many animals eat bits of plastic too large to pass from the stomach and are resistant to digestion. This can create a continual feeling of being full, resulting in starvation,” said Beatty.