Come December, the Daniels College of Business will implement a student designed recycling program for a trial period of six months.
Alfredo Abad, director of custodial services, has submitted a written agreement to DCB students and faculty stating his commitment to the project.
“Every year I am approached by students,” said Abad, “but it is usually just that first time.”
Abad asks students who come to him with suggestions on how to improve recycling to give him a written description of their ideas and documented commitment to carrying out these plans. This is usually where the desire to influence recycling practice on campus fizzles, Abad said.
The program at DCB will involve student participation on the preparation and pick-up of recyclable materials. Until this year, DU was operating under a “If you Can Tear It” plan, where office and paper materials were the only consistently recycled materials.
Under this plan, according to Abad, over 10.4 tons of recycling is being generated per month.
“This is really good,” said Abad, “but we could be doing better.”
The recycling plan at DCB would be another step in the university’s pledge for better environmental practices.
Currently, there is only one full-time custodial services employee assigned to recycling. To add more hands to the recycling effort, DCB recycling plan promises that student volunteers will do all of the recycling in the building and be an integral part of the pick-up process. Students are to bring bins of recyclable items to the lower level of the parking garage in DCB, where the recyclables are to be picked up by custodial services every day.
Abad estimates that DCB’s daily garbage load would be cut in half with proper recycling. In a demonstration done by two students who sorted through DCB garbage bins at the end of the night; a large portion of materials thrown away were recyclable.
The plan at DCB will be evaluated for six months. This would allow time for students to leave for spring break and go through multiple academic quarters. This would test the commitment of students to the program, Abad said.
“We don’t want a plan that is going to disappear in three moths,” said Abad, who has seen student-led recycling programs fail in the past because student either leave for break periods or lose interest because of pressures of school work.
If the DCB recycling plan is successful, similar programs would be started in other buildings.
“The ultimate goal is to get out own compactor on campus,” said Abad, “but that will take at least a year to reach.”
Last spring, Chancellor Robert Coombe signed the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment, a document that commits DU to reducing carbon emissions by opting for more environmentally friendly practices.
As part of the commitment, DU will begin a series of tangible action plans that will make DU a more sustainable campus. ACUPCC was a student-led initiative; which has thus far successfully created the student-faculty organization Sustainable DU, pushed for higher LEED certifications in current construction on campus, utilized wind energy to power over 12 percent of the campus, and launched an energy-use reduction campaign in residence halls.
