The Saint Rose Chronicle

Issue date: 5/2/07 Section: URBAN IMPACT

Media Credit: Chris Welch A campus wide recycling plan will go into effect for the fall semester.

A three week pilot project will be launched in Lima and Alumni Halls in Fall 2007 for paper and cardboard recycling. An influx of recycling in campus facilities was triggered more than a year and half ago when recycling bins started appearing inside classrooms and faculty offices. The college experimented with paper recycling in residence halls but the recycling would get mixed in with the garbage and be thrown away. Now, the college has a new approach to improve its effort in preserving the environment.

"We're going to have strict directions as to what students should put in these bins," said John Pavelock, Director of Risk Management and Environmental Safety. He's hoping the new guidelines will solve the problems that arose in the last trials. "We don't want our recycling to mingle with the trash."

Saint Rose has an environmental policy that states that the institution will take a leadership role in conducting activities as responsible stewards of the environment. To that end, the college plans to implement new environmentally friendly on-campus programs, in addition to placing recycling bins in the dorms. A few have already been put in place. The biggest problem the college faces is finding space for all of the recycling equipment.

"Logistically, we just don't have the space," said Pavelock, talking about the college's ambitions for a bottle recycling program. "The compactors are twice the size of my office."
But, Saint Rose has achieved success in other facets of its recycling plan.

"Space is a necessity but it shouldn't be that insurmountable," said David Hopkins, an environmental biology professor. Before the Lally building was erected, Hopkins composted gallons of food waste from the dining hall into useful organic fertilizer for use on campus. Compost is usually a mix of decomposed plants but may also include food waste. It breaks down faster than mulch - mulch uses wood products - and releases nutrients into the ground.

Three years ago, George Lorang, a Special Education teacher here, was bringing his students to the Crossgates Mall for job training. The developmentally delayed students then started job training programs on campus, working in the dining hall and the copy center.

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