Utah State University Updates Waste and Recycling Bins

Students will notice more than 300 new waste and recycling stations appearing on the Utah State University Logan campus over the next two weeks. The stations are a joint project of USU Facilities and a $10,715 Blue Goes Green Grant proposal by USU students Sara Simmons and Camilla Bottelberghe.

Simmons saw a need for improvement in USU’s recycling system as a student on campus.

“USU does a great job promoting sustainability, but one of its weaknesses is the lack of consistent recycling bins across campus,” said Simmons. “The implementation of these new bins will provide a convenient, standardized setup that will enable students to integrate recycling into their daily lives.”

The new waste and recycling stations will feature three bins: trash, paper recycling and container recycling. Labels will indicate the contents of each bin through images and text. Restrictive openings will provide users with another cue about the contents of each bin. The new stations also contain 20 percent post-consumer recycled content.

Nate Schwartz, USU’s recycling coordinator, believes the bins are a step forward in the USU recycling program

“As recycling continues to grow at USU, these bins will be a great aid in helping to accomplish our goals of reducing waste and increasing recycling,” said Schwartz. “Standardizing all the recycling bins throughout campus and placing them in more locations will help eliminate confusion as to what is recyclable and where to place the recyclable products.”

More than 20 buildings will receive stations over the next two weeks, including Merrill-Cazier Library, Taggart Student Center, Chase Fine Arts Center, Fine Arts Visual, Emma Eccles Jones Education Building, Human Services Research Center, George S. Eccles Business, New Engineering Building and Old Main.

Alexi Lamm, USU’s sustainability coordinator, hopes to phase in more waste and recycle stations in the future since they aren’t able to add new stations to all buildings at once.

“Until then, the remaining buildings should still see some improvements by next semester,” said Lamm. “As we add the new stations and remove old bins from buildings, we can redistribute the nicer old bins to other buildings and retire the ones in the worst condition.”

About Blue Goes Green Grants

Blue Goes Green Grants are funded through the Blue Goes Green Fee, a $0.25/credit hour fee not to exceed $3/semester, which USU students passed in February 2011. The Blue Goes Green Fee is a student-driven and student-led campaign that offers students on the Logan campus the opportunity to apply for a grant and implement a sustainability project on campus. Thirty to forty thousand dollars are available each school year for grant proposals.

About USU Recycling
The USU Recycling Center began in 1990. Since then, the program has grown to recycle approximately 25 percent of USU’s solid waste stream. USU Recycling is committed to reducing the university’s environmental impact. USU recycles paper, cardboard, glass bottles, aluminum cans, steel cans, plastic containers, wood pallets, batteries, scrap metal, and rigid Styrofoam.         

Contact: Alexi Lamm, USU sustainability coordinator, 435-797-9299, alexi.lamm@usu.edu

Contact: Nate Schwartz, USU recycling coordinator, 435-797-1973, nathan.schwartz@usu.edu

Contact: Sara Simmons, USU student, sara.simmons@aggiemail.usu.edu