New Campaign Asks Students to Waste Not

An ambitious recycling effort is being launched at the District's nine colleges

Make a deposit and save…

It's a simple message about a simple act, recycling your trash by depositing it in the proper bin.

Yet it is a key step toward preserving our natural resources and protecting the global environment.

It’s a challenge the nine colleges of the Los Angeles Community College District are going to tackle. They are launching an ambitious recycling campaign, part of a broader sustainability program. (See recycling video)

“We want to spread the knowledge about the importance of recycling to all of our campuses,” said Russel Monroe, college operations manager and recycling coordinator at West Los Angeles College. “These days, it starts with 3-year-olds being taught that recyclable materials have to be separated. But for those who are already college students, it’s a constant educational process. It’s not quite there yet for them because it requires a change in habits.”

It doesn’t require much effort. And it certainly doesn’t require any skill. It’s not like asking Kobe Bryant to launch a basketball from 25 feet away with a defender in his face. It simply means dropping a wadded-up piece of paper or an empty can into a receptacle.

Yet it seems people need to be constantly reminded or cajoled to recycle. Those who litter on a highway even run the risk of a fine.

The colleges, on the other hand, are reinforcing their campaign with a positive message: Make a deposit and save your planet. Save your campus. Save funds that can be used for other needs by the colleges.

It’s a message that has become more pertinent than ever as awareness grows about the benefits, both from an environmental and financial standpoint, to be gained from recycling.The centerpieces of the recycling program at the nine colleges are new, state-of-the-art receptacles that run on solar energy, offer separate slots for recyclables and waste, and compact the waste.

The colleges have ordered trash containers with two sections, one for recyclables and one for waste that will be compacted. The recycling side accepts glass and aluminum cans.

The units, known by the trade name BigBelly, run on a 12-volt battery charged by a solar panel. The battery provides a power reserve good for several weeks.

There is a safety device in the unit that prevents anyone’s hands from getting snared by the compactor.

Some units contain wireless monitors to indicate when they are full. These units can hold 150 gallons of trash. The material is transferred to larger units and, from there, the waste goes to a landfill and the recyclable material is shipped to a material recycling facility for, as Monroe puts it, “their next life.”

“If a traditional garbage can overflows, as is sometimes the case,” said Larry Eisenberg, the LACCD's executive director of facilities planning and development, “there is litter all over the place, bringing down the quality of the environment.

“The solar-powered BigBelly, on the other hand, provides significant capacity, offers tremendous flexibility, can be placed anywhere without having to be hooked up, demonstrates really interesting technology and is a very straightforward way to stress recycling on our campuses.”

The recycling operation will help the colleges financially in various ways. The most obvious is the money earned from the recycling centers.

But beyond that, compacting trash will mean fewer truck trips to collect the material and transport it from the campus, which could reduce fuel use while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A receptacle with a compacter can hold five times as much trash.

Finally, when the receptacles are used, it will mean less work for campus custodians.

LACCD campuses have responded with orders of more than 150 BigBelly units.Recycling on LACCD campuses is extensive. It includes recycling such items as computer parts and printer cartridges as well as grass clippings and wood shavings.

“We try to recycle everything we possibly can,” Monroe said.

Support for that effort is growing on campus, according to Julius Walker, operations manager at Los Angeles Mission College.

“The response we’ve received from students and staff is pretty positive,” Walker said. “We get questions about why we are recycling. But as we’ve explained the environmental impact of not doing it and the savings to the school by doing it, we’ve been getting more and more cooperation as the days go on.

“Originally, it was an educational program. Then came the second phase, which was training people. Now, we are reaping benefits of those taking part. I get people asking me now, do you take this for recycling or do you take that. “The goal is to, one day, have zero waste.”

In pursuit of that goal, West Los Angeles' Monroe wants to get a recycling center on his campus to handle everything from used electronic parts to old furniture. But it its simplest form, recycling involves dropping trash into a receptacle. And unlike Kobe, in this case, there is no reason to ever miss.