Show h T THE U HE t G GLIB L B B E Tuesday March 30 2004 Reduce Waste Slow Si Landfill it Stacy Johnson n Kimber F Mannlein Don n Don Crandall Kristen r Contributing Contributing Sorensen Writers Writer Do you know how much w waste ste you produce When you are preparing dinner tonight make a mental note on now how much garbage are you throwing away Perhaps start a separate garbage bin so that you can see the end result You will be shocked at how much much garbage will be in that thaT bin by y the time you are ready to serve The average American throws TS away 43 P pounds of trash r a da 25 2 pounds na day This is ls IS UP from just 40 years ago plus 70 of this trash was recyclable Salt Lake City's landfill a is is nearing capaci capacity in fifteen fifteen teen short years it will be completely full What can we do at Salt Lake Community College to keep more garbage out of the landfill We went to Rand Webb environmental nm health and safety for for answers manager When asked what is currently currently cur cur- being done on campus campus cam cam- pus he stated there is recycling recycling recy recy- cling for paper books magazines cardboard boxes etc anything that is made of paper We then asked Rand if there has been any other programs or attempts to recycle more He replied numerous attempts have nave been made but in the end it was costing the college collee to recycle The economics of recycling are not profitable Even aluminum cans weren't making the college money mostly due to collection collection collection col col- col- col lection problems There are many hazardous items that are required to be collected for recycling chemicals oil and toner cartridges are all recycled by law Currently Salt Lake Community college hires one person that works 29 hours a week to collect paper at four of our eleven campuses This paper is then sold to Redi Therm Insulation who pays for our paper reaper to transform transform transform trans trans- form it into insulation for homes This enables them to accept any paper products products products prod prod- contamination isn't a factor with insulation The money generated only pays for the wages to pick the paper up It is a break even process When attempting g a recy recy- cling program for aluminum aluminum aluminum alu alu- alu- alu minum cans it didn't go so well People were careless and threw away any kind of garbage they had and did not empty the cans before throwing them away So if you can image being the person to pick the cans up and turn them in having to hand pick through the garbage and an inch of sticky goo at the bottom of the box DOx Not a pleasant job There are more items being recycled on campus but it is left up to individuals u- u als wanting to collect it themselves Recycling is done in offices around campus campus campus cam cam- pus that have a person who will take the cans in for recycling It is all done on a need or want basis Sometimes the money is put in for a pizza when enough money is raised Rand states that household recycling in the city is where the big difference difference difference differ differ- ence will b be seen it simply costs too much to implement implement implement ment a program on campus What is the solution 75 of recyclable material that goes to the landfill is isgreen isgreen isgreen green waste so why not start at home with home composting Take household household house house- hold hazardous waste to the waste station where is will be disposed of properly and reuse reused Take the time to sort and recycle We are being loaned this earth while weare weare we weare are here Lets Let's start caring about the future of our ecosystem Do your part You can make a difference Watch the packaging products come in Buy in bulk c J R Recycling Al i i Facts Fact's 1 Every Sunday Sunday the Unit United c States wastes nearly 90 of ih the recyclable newspapers This wastes trees 1 2 Every day Americans buy 62 million newspapers and throw out 44 million That's the equivalent of dumping trees into a a landfill every week j 3 Americans throw throwawaY away enough office and writing pa paper annually to build a wall 12 tee feet high stretching from Los Angeles to New York City I 1 4 If everyone in the US recycled recy recy- cled just 1110 10 of their theil newsprint we wc would save the estimated equivalent of about 25 million trees a year I E 5 One tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air each year 6 It takes 75 thousand trees to print a Sunday edition of the New NewYork NewYork York Times I i |