Website explains how to recycle on campus
May 19th, 2009
The University of Louisville diverted more than 44 percent of its total waste last year from landfills.
This year, that percentage may be even higher, said Aaron Boggs, a ground superintendent with UofL’s Physical Plant who is working to make the university’s recycling efforts more visible.
This spring, Boggs created a new website that explains what UofL can recycle and how employees and students can take advantage of the service. People wondering how to dispose of old batteries, cardboard, chemicals, electronic scrap, lighting, paper or cell phones can go to the site and get detailed instructions on how to proceed in an environmentally friendly way.
In some cases, Physical Plant staff will pick up the material and dispose of it properly.
“It’s really important for everyone in the UofL community to do their part to reduce the amount of waste generated on campus,” Boggs said. “It needs to happen on an individual level.”
Physical Plant has been recycling cardboard, burned coal ash, construction debris, refrigerant, used oil and scrap metal since 1991. In 1995, it teamed up with UofL’s Department of Environmental Health and Safety to collect and recycle “universal wastes,” a category that includes batteries, lighting and other devices that contain mercury.
Between 2003 and 2008, the university recycled 4.2 million pounds of coal ash, 2.6 million pounds of paper, 2.3 million pounds of cardboard, 800,000 pounds of scrap metal and 400,000 pounds of compost, but it didn’t stop there. UofL also recycled about 69,000 pounds of e-scrap, 46,000 pounds of aluminum, 11,000 gallons of petroleum products and antifreeze and nearly 6,000 pounds of tires.
Although recycling makes a huge difference in reducing waste, UofL employees also need to try to reuse items whenever possible, Boggs said. For example, Physical Plant reuses trimmed tree limbs and leaves as mulch and offers a surplus property exchange program that allows campus departments to reuse furniture and equipment being discarded by other departments.
The university is not yet recycling plastic but “we’re moving in that direction,” Boggs said. Physical Plant is now looking into hiring a company that accepts mixed waste — paper, aluminum cans and plastic all combined together.
Lack of manpower also hinders recycling at UofL, said Boggs, whose role as recycling coordinator is only part of his overall job responsibilities.
“We could do a lot more if we had a full-time recycling coordinator at UofL.”
