The Sustainability Office dug through all the trash from Hagg-Sauer Hall the week of November 3rd (trust me…it’s fun!). Our primary focus is to assess how many recyclables are ending up in the garbage. Here are our results since 2011:
| YEAR | Total waste collected (lbs) | % fiber that could have been recycled | % containers that could have been recycled | % non-recyclables (garbage) |
| 2011 | 221.5 | 13.32% | 8.13% | 78.6% |
| 2012 | 339.3 | 11.1% | 6.5% | 82.5% |
| 2013 | 288.6 | 6.3% | 5.8% | 87.9% |
| 2014 | 328.9 | 11.2% | 9.0% | 79.7% |
We noticed that there were a lot more glass containers than usual this year which would add a significant amount of weight. We are thinking of separating the types of containers (aluminum, glass, plastic, etc.) in the future to better assess trends. There was also a lot of paper in the garbage that could have been recycled. The percentage of both fiber and containers was higher than we’d like to see. In the next few days, I’ll be sending out a reminder of what can be recycled to remind folks.
Thanks to Trevor Plendl, our office Zero Waste Coordinator, for managing this project!