Recycling Coordinator

Recycling Center

 

Become a Recycling Coordinator at USA!

Over the last year, the Department of Biology has piloted a recycling program in the Life Sciences Building that has proven to be markedly successful. The department dedicated a small portion of a storage room (~40 sq ft) to serve as the building recycling “center.” The center is equipped with bins to collect #1 plastics, #2 plastics, #3-7 plastics, paper and cardboard, glass, steel, aluminum and electronics. Until recently, student and faculty members would bring in these recyclables which were then taken by graduate students and / or the faculty coordinator to community recycling centers in the departmental van.

Recently, because of the efforts of the USA Facilities Services, Student Sustainability Council and the USA’s Sustainability Committee, USA has solidified a partnership with the new Mobile County Recycling Center managed by Goodwill Easter Seals on Hitt Rd.  As a result of this partnership, the County Recycling Center will make regular pickups of all types of recyclables from USA.

The Department of Biology is now looking to support the expansion of the pilot program to additional buildings on campus. Importantly, the USA Facilities Services enthusiastically supports this expansion and has already set up a central location on campus where all of USA’s materials are consolidated for pick-up by the Mobile County Recycling Center. What’s more, Facilities Services has the personnel and staff in place to collect the recyclables from individual buildings and transport them to the USA central collection facility!

Thus begins a new chapter in the recycling history of USA. That said, the intent of this message is to identify the essential components for setting up building-centric recycling processes in other buildings across USA - conscientious faculty / staff members who are willing to serve as a recycling coordinator for their own building. These individuals will be charged with identifying space in their buildings for a recycle center, informing others in their buildings about the program and monitoring the recycling process. This includes informing Facilities Services when a pickup is required and reporting successes and challenges to the Life Sciences Building coordinator.   We need to recruit at least one coordinator per building.  Facilities Services will provide the necessary bins, and the Life Sciences Building coordinator will be happy to assist with getting everything set up.

Consider becoming a recycling coordinator for your building.  The position affords a high profile with a minimal time commitment. Most importantly, it is the right thing to do.

If you would be willing to serve as a building coordinator please contact Dr. Glen Borchert (borchert@southalabama.edu) for more information.