VCU news

By Megan Schmidt

Single-stream recycling is about as easy as it gets. Gone are the days of having to separate recyclables by glass color and plastic numbers. Just throw it all in a blue bin and walk away.

Late last month, 122 of the small, blue, all-in-one recycling bins were distributed to each of the dorm rooms of 835 West Grace Street South, home of VCU's ASPiRE, a living-learning community for students interested in community engagement,  as part of a new residence hall recycling program.

“I’ve always felt like recycling is a good thing, and I know I should’ve been doing it previously, but I always blew it off,” said Jessika McNeil, a resident assistant at West Grace South. “I feel like this is a great opportunity. I feel like you should recycle. I mean, why not?”

Jordan Starbuck, assistant director of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Office of Sustainability, said 835 West Grace Street South is serving as the pilot dorm for single-stream recycling in residential facilities. The initiative is part of the larger switch to all-in-one recycling throughout the university.

“We definitely want the students to use them because we really think that getting the dorms into the single-stream will increase our university recycling numbers by about 10 percent,” Starbuck said.

Considering the amount of recyclables currently thrown away at West Grace South, there’s a chance that percentage could be even more if the program is successful.

“Our waste-haulers did an audit on the dorm’s trash, before we distributed the recycling bins, and they were like, ‘If you just pull out the food, it’s all recyclable,’” Starbuck said.

More audits will occur throughout September so that in October VCU’s sustainability office can reevaluate the program, survey student participation and concerns and make adjustments for the remainder of the semester.

In the meantime, the only non-recyclable items an average student of West Grace South needs to worry about are food, liquids and confidential documents.

When recycling is this simple and convenient, the question really is, “Why not?”

 

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