New recycling container system coming to campus this fall

The goal is to establish a uniform system and, in turn, to increase Brown's diversion of recycled materials.

by Mary Jo Curtis

Phone books, magazines and junk mail. Greasy pizza boxes and shipping boxes that held office supplies. A really bad draft of the new project proposal.

Waste basket or recycling bin? The blue or the brown recycling bin? White paper, newspaper or mixed paper?

Representatives from Facilities Management will answer these questions and many more this fall when they visit University departments, offices and dormitories to install a new recycling container system and educate employees and students on its use. The goal is to establish a uniform system throughout campus and, in turn, to increase Brown's diversion of recycled materials.

"We can do a better job," said Tony Batista, operations and service manager for Facilities Management. "Once we've gone to every building and the new system is more visible, we hope to improve."

The new system will feature four containers of different colors. They will be labeled for office paper (white and colored paper, envelopes, carbonless forms and sticky notes); newspapers, magazines, glossy paper and boxboard (including junk mail, books, cereal-type boxes); cardboard (corrugated cardboard, shipping and computer boxes, manila envelopes, brown paper bags and file folders); and mixed containers (aluminum and tin cans, glass and plastic bottles). Special containers will be designed to be architecturally compatible in high visibility public locations such as Sayles Hall and the Salomon Center, and new buildings will be equipped with built-in recycling areas.

According to Kurt Teichert, Brown's resource efficiency manager and an adjunct lecturer in environmental studies, organized recycling began at Brown in early 1972, when two students arranged for a city resident to begin collecting newspapers from campus. Shortly after, they organized Students Actively Volunteering for the Environment (S.A.V.E) to run and expand the program. A campus-wide recycling program was established in 1984. Developed by students from the Center for Environmental Studies (CES), it served as a template for the first statewide mandatory recycling program in the country.

"Rhode Island recycling essentially began at Brown under [retired CES Director and Professor] Harold Ward," said Teichert. "Brown is Green was the original initiative. ... The CES has always worked closely with the Rhode Island community and has used campus programs as models for innovation at the local and state levels."

Since 1984, the success of the program "has waxed and waned," often coinciding with economic cycles, said Teichert.

"Waste and recycling generation is a function of income and economic cycles. If you have less, you generate less," he explained. Last year the University collected 58 tons of office paper, 132 tons of cans and bottles, 174 tons of corrugated cardboard and 122 tons of newspaper and similar low-grade materials.

Over the years, there have been numerous changes in procedures and acceptable materials, "so people sometimes are acting with dated information," Teichert added. Today Brown's recycling program is run on a day-to-day basis by the University's custodians, under Batista's direction, but the first responsibility lies with the individual.

"Some departments are excellent; others have room for improvement, but we can't expect folks to improve without the proper equipment," said Teichert. "We have to make this as clear and as easy as possible."

Batista hopes everyone in the Brown community will realize that for our environment, when it comes to throwing things away, there is no "away."

"Some people just don't recycle at all," said Batista. "The dump is full, and we still create so much trash. We have to do something about it - and that will make a better future for everyone."

Learn more about Brown's resource recovery program online.