USU getting ‘recyclemania’
The USU Recycling Club is teaming up with the Aggie Cycling Club to put on a concert Wednesday, Feb. 7 in the TSC Auditorium. It will feature local bands Dah, Viewers Like You and The Rock Bandits.
“It’s a real concert,” said Benjamin Abbott, a Recycling Club member and junior in watershed science. “You’ve got bluegrass, ska and rock. There’s something for everyone.”
The concert, called Rehab Your Earth: Intensive Music Therapy, will begin at 8 p.m. and will cost $3, or $2 for those with a bag of recyclables.
The money raised at the concert will go toward the purchase of recycling bins to add to the ones already in use. Abbot estimated there are “hundreds” in all the various buildings.
“There are 18 in Old Main alone,” he said.
The title comes from combining the Recycling and Cycling clubs’ goals to reduce overall waste and pollution, and it is a collaborative effort to raise awareness and kick off a national competition called Recyclemania.
USU is only in its second year of the contest, which lasts from Jan. 28 to April 9, and aims to reduce overall waste and increase recycling. Abbott said there are different categories for recyclables and an overall ranking. Last year, Abbott said USU ranked 9th out of about 250 schools.
“Harvard and Berkley were still ahead of us, though, so we’ve got to beat them this year.” Abbott said. This year, 201 schools are competing.
Students can get involved by trying not to consume as much, to begin with, and recycle as much as possible.
Recycling Club member Sky Bosworth said there is some misconception about what can be recycled. Although most people recycle paper and newspaper, plastic bottles and Styrofoam can be recycled, he said.
Bosworth said the Recycling Center on campus even takes plastic grocery sacks. Cans, stiff paper or cardboard, and magazines are also recyclable.
“People don’t realize that the bulk of what they throw away is recyclable. Up to 75 percent of trash could have been recycled,” Abbott said.
The Recycling Center is located just behind the motor pool at the north end of campus and was constructed in 1994, three years after USU began its recycling program.
Manager Kevin Phillips, with nine full- and part-time employees and several student volunteers, including the Reycling Club members, collects, sorts and packages all the recycling bins into bales that weigh 1,500 pounds each.
Phillips said the bales are either sold as insulation or bid to the public. Phillips said the university averages about $80 a ton and also saves $60 for every ton it doesn’t have to haul to the landfill.
“The glass that is recycled goes to a local company in Smithfield that makes floor tile from it,” Phillips said.
“That’s the beauty of it, ” Abbott said. “It’s not just throwing something away. It has a new use.”
In 2006, Phillips said the university recycled 662 tons of materials, which amounted to 26 percent of the total waste.
“We’d like to increase that to 33 pecent over the next eight years,” Phillips said. This is because by then, the Logan Landfill will likely be full, and it will be much more expensive to remove waste.
“We’re saving the university money and saving the environment at the same time,” Phillips said. “Every ton that we recycle is equal to 17 trees that don’t have to be cut down. Multiply that by 662. That is a lot of trees.”
Abbott said the concert is an effort to encourage recycling and enthusiasm as well as raise awareness about statistics like the ones Phillips gave.
“Some people look at recycling as an inconvenience,” Abbott said, “but it really is fun.” The Recycling Club averages about 10 members at its weekly meetings, which are held in the Service Center (third floor of the TSC) on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m.
“But it’s really easy to get involved in,” Abbot said. ” People are really proactive.”
According to Bosworth, the club meets to talk about its efforts and get ideas, such as the concert and Recycle Week, which was held fall semester.
“It’s really a group effort,” Bosworth said.
Abbott said, “It’s pretty cool that it’s entirely a student infrastructure.”
The Recycling and Cycling clubs will have information available for interested students at the concert Wednesday.
-chelseyg@cc.usu.edu