Reduce, reuse, recycle; that's the Environmental Protection Agency's motto, and Green River is taking a giant step forward to do just that.
Over winter break, GRCC will be getting new commingle recycling bins. These bins will allow people to indiscriminately throw all sorts materials into one container.
Capital Projects Documentation Manager Terry Stanford says that this is part of a broader effort to make our school more environmentally friendly. He also says that the new bins will noticeably diminish the amount of trash the school produces, which will save the school money, cutting down Green River's garbage bill.
It is still unclear just how much the school will save with these new bins, but since garbage bills are charged by tonnage and the new recycling bins will cut down their weight, the school should save money in this area.
So, exactly what can go in these new commingle bins? They will be able to hold all sorts of material, including: phone books, milk cartons, paper boxes, shredded paper, cardboard, mixed paper, paper bags, glass bottles, magazines, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, other metal cans, and more.
Until now, there has been no school-wide organized effort to recycle aluminum cans, and glass or plastic bottles, so large portions of such materials have been wastefully displaced in garbage cans. Now, with the addition of commingle bins, people will have a way to recycle such materials from anywhere on campus.
According to Stanford, there will be 37 commingle bins in various locations around campus inside and outside of buildings. Green River will, however, keep using its paper recycling bins in addition to these new bins, and they will remain for paper use only.
Despite the fact that the new the commingle bins will allow for such a broad variety of recycled materials, Stanford says that he and the school would actually like to discourage people from recycling paper in them.
The reason for this is that the school has been using a separate pick up service, which benefits the mentally challenged, for recycling paper and they want to keep using this service.
Work is also in progress to get commingle bins for the Campus Corner Apartments. Stanford said that he hopes to accomplish this very soon. This would be significant progress for the CCA, which currently have no recycling at all.
Stanford has also been working with GRCC's kitchen staff to organize a new system of organic recycling for food waste and food-littered paper products here on campus. More details need to be worked out pertaining to cost and how much waste might be produced, but this could start as soon as the beginning of January.
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