Posted: 10/10/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Ramzi Dreessen

With the University disposing of more than three elephants worth of waste each year, administrators and students are making changes to reduce the impact on the environment.

The University generates 14,000 tons of waste each year, but about 49 percent of this waste is diverted away from landfills, according to the 2004 Waste Reduction Plan compiled by University Facilities and Services. A new study will be conducted in 2010.

"It's not cheap filling the landfills with this stuff," said Tim Hoss, coordinator of waste management for Facilities and Services.

To reduce costs, students and the University are following steps to keep waste out of dumps.

Recycle old homework

Environmentally-conscious students often think of saving paper, yet they continue to post fliers and notices on bulletin boards around campus.

To reduce paper waste, the printing department of Facilities and Services now produces class course packets made 100 percent of recycled content, said Barb Childers, director of printing for Facilities and Services.

While the cost to produce these course packets is higher, Childers said it's worth the added expense.

"Most course packs have a short life and are only used for a semester or two," Childers said.

The printing department has also started using vegetable- or soy-based inks in its printing.

Childers added that the department recycles a Dumpster full of paper every day, and a Dumpster full of cardboard each week in efforts to reduce waste.

Empty your plate

One area of waste students may not consider is the food they scrape off their plates and into the trash at the end at the end of each meal.

"Food waste is pretty inherent to the system because we have so much food, and we don't really value it," said Dan Anderson, agriculture specialist in ACES. "People just eat what they want and throw the rest away because they know they can get more whenever they want."

It is difficult to measure how much food is thrown out from University residence halls yearly, however Americans waste as much as 96 billion pounds of food each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"If food wasn't as abundant, you would think twice before fixing more than you needed or throwing out what you didn't finish," Anderson said. "It's an American attitude toward food."

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