Despite operating with little budget and no full-time employees, Columbia’s recycling program gathered about 180 tons of paper (360,000 pounds) and eight tons of commingled material (16,000 pounds of plastics, glass, and aluminum) from August 2006 through August 2007, the first year for which statistics are available. The college also recycled 476 pounds of alkaline batteries and 41 pounds of nickel-cadmium batteries.
Columbia’s recycling program began as a grassroots effort sometime in the early ’90s with students volunteering to pick up recyclables. John Wawrzaszek, a 2003 graduate of the radio department, took the program over in August of 2005 to make it more productive and effective. Wawrzaszek says the college has plans to increase the program, bringing in a consultant from a local waste management company to brainstorm ideas for different ways to recycle other forms of waste such as furniture, construction debris, and chemicals.
Wawrzaszek said he was impressed with the results so far, and optimistic participation would continue to rise.
Comments (1)
For the record, there is an inaccuracy in the "Columbia Recycles" piece. Yes, Columbia's recycling program began as a grassroots effort, but not in the early '90s. It began in the 1980s as an initiative taken by a subgroup of Students for a Better World, to which I was the faculty advisor. The Columbia student who managed its implementation, Jamie Cahillane, went on to become and is presently serving as the director of the Center of Ecological Technology in Pittsfield, MA.
Posted by Louis Silverstein | January 28, 2008 4:39 PM
Posted on January 28, 2008 16:39