The waste audit was part of RecycleMania, a program designed to promote waste reduction activities at colleges and universities.
Kurt Oberreither
-News Editor-
On Wednesday, March 21, members of the Sustainability Committee were digging through trash cans in the Student Center Quad
The committee removed all of the trash cans from Business and Administration before sorting through the contents for all to see. STLCC-Meramec Sustainability Coordinator Emily Neal said the waste audit was conducted in an effort to make Meramec aware of the waste generated around campus.
The committee measured 11.82 pounds of mixed plastic materials, like soda and water bottles; 55.38 pounds of paper; 6.22 pounds of aluminum; and 20.7 pounds of food waste and various liquids that could have been composted. According to committee member Rene Dulle, they also found a number of glass bottles and cardboard boxes that could have been recycled.
“Although this waste was retrieved from only one building on campus, we believe this ‘sample’ represents the fact that students, staff and faculty could be recycling much more all over campus,” Dulle said.
The trash measured was the accumulation of a 24-hour period and all recyclable materials were recycled.
The waste audit was part of RecycleMania, a program designed to promote waste reduction activities at colleges and universities. Meramec – along with Florissant Valley, Forest Park and the Cosand Center – is in the benchmark division, which means the campus is not competing nationally.
Wildwood is the only campus in the competition and is No.19 of 264 competing; this is the first year Wildwood has been involved in RecycleMania.
Every week each campus reports the amount of paper, bottles, cans and compost recycled and enters the data into a score sheet that can be accessed on the RecycleMania website.
