Recycling program grows
By MYRA McGRIFF
Saint Mary's News Editor
After a year of planning, the Saint Mary's Student Environmental Action Coalition [SEAC] has reached a pivotal stage in instituting a campus wide recycling program. Currently working with the administration, SEAC hopes to see action taken soon.
The idea for a recycling program spawned from inquiries during Activities Night in the fall of 1999. It was the first time SEAC set up a booth and the response they got was favorable. Students were interested in Saint Mary's recycling program, especially questioning why there was no one program for recycling plastic and glass on campus. Teresa Lorenz, president of SEAC and other members knew they had to respond.
"So many of the people that signed up for the club would ask us if we could do something about glass and plastic recycling," said Lorenz.
In the Beginning
In response to the student body call for action, SEAC sent out a petition in April 2000. It wanted to determine student and faculty interest in adding plastic and glass to Saint Mary's aluminum and paper recycling. The petition returned with more than 400 signatures in favor of adding plastic and glass to the recycling program. From the overwhelming response, the club knew it had the backing to propose changes to the existing program.
To institute a full-fledged recycling program, SEAC drafted a proposal to present to the Board of Governance (BOG) on Oct. 21. The SEAC proposal outlined the reasons why the college needed a new recycling program. One reason rested on the existence of the 1999/2000 BOG endorsed Student Environmental Policy and a change in vending machines.
"We saw the need when the campus started replacing the aluminum dispensing pop machines with plastic dispensing machines," said Lorenz.
The Proposal
Along with reasons to activate a recycling program, SEAC also outlined the initiatives needed to produce such a program. Initiatives included three main actions: contract an off-campus recycling pick-up service, provide clearly labeled and accessible bins for recycling in all buildings and educate students on how to properly dispose of recyclables.
The last point requested cooperation and commitment from dining hall services, to participate in the effort of a campus wide recycling program. SEAC spent its time coming up with a concise proposal that would get the backing of both student body and administration.
"We heard a lot about proposals for glass and plastic recycling being rejected in the past so we had to put a lot of time and effort into coming up with a proposal and rallying support from students and faculty," said Lorenz.
The group's work paid off when it got the needed approval from the Academic Council to proceed with its proposal into committee form. Holding its first meeting March 23, SEAC not only named a program coordinator for the committee, Jerry De Damper, but also proposed future steps the committee should take.
With the formation of a committee, SEAC definitely sees the potential to reform the existing recycling program. As explained by Marilyn Rajski, director of building and services, the weekly aluminum recycling is handled by building service workers, making the task time consuming. Especially the time staff spend cleaning out each of the cans before recycling.
"The 55 containers are emptied and one of our floaters picks up all the bags from every building and takes the cans to South Bend's recycling center," said Rajski.
And even though the campus does not officially recycle plastics and glass, SEAC has been doing it on its own. The members have been emptying, cleaning and recycling any plastic and glass containers that have deposited around the dorms. The hope is that in establishing the four-point plan SEAC, along with the recycling committee, can make the process of recycling a lot more efficient.
The only kink in SEAC's proposal for a recycling program may lie in the numbers crunched by Saint Mary's financial department. As it stands, building services pours in at least five hours a week per person to carry out the aluminum-recycling project.
However, as Rajski pointed out in the recycling committee's minutes, most of the revenue is lost in the labor. They receive $2,500 in revenue a year from recycling the cans but end up dumping at least that much back into paying a Saint Mary's worker to clean and transport the cans.
Even though the aluminum recycling may actually result in a loss of money for the campus, SEAC is keeping hope alive. Awaiting a rough estimate on costs versus benefits, members of SEAC cross their fingers hoping Keith Dennis, vice president of finance, will flag them on to the next cycle of actions.
The Next Step
Dennis said the budget for the next fiscal year has already been completed and SEAC's proposal for the recycling program was not figured in. He said that if the project costs are insignificant, the program may start next fall. But if the costs are large, the program will have to wait for the next budget cycle, meaning there may or may not be enough money to get the program started for fall 2001.
"We have already completed the budget cycle for next year," said Dennis. Dennis did however assure that the College would start some reform next year that would involve little to no cost. This reform would ease the individual efforts SEAC has been doing to recycle plastics and glass by combining the SEAC recycling job with that of college resources.
Regardless of the budget decision, SEAC sees recycling more than about dollar figures and revenue amounts. They started this project in response to student concerns and their goal has always been simple: effective recycling with campus awareness.
All News Stories for Friday, April 27, 2001
