TheGreening of the Campus VIIIconference in Indianapolis got underway on Sunday, September 20, with a number of interesting pre-conference workshops. I attended the all-day College & University Recycling Council (CURC) Workshop. There were 32 attendees and a nice balance of schools, including community colleges. Following is a report from the morning session of the CURC workshop.

Karyn Kaplan (U Oregon)-  described the plan for the day and gave a link to this useful resource:
Recycling and Beyond: A College Campus Primer - University of Oregon

Mark Darling (Ithaca College) -is the Supervisor of Recycling & Resource Management at Ithaca College. He started in ’87 as groundskeeper (and was able to get his degree from Ithaca while working). He became involved in the student-started recycling program. Students also started one of the first curbside recycling programs in the U.S. in Ithaca in the 1980s. The students institutionalized the program so it would continue after they graduated.  It is now housed in facilities. Incentives to recycle include wheeled bins that are easier to move than heavy trash bags. In the 1990s the college started food scrap composting, with help from researchers from Cornell U. Handling the volume presented some challenges. Today 98% of food scraps are composted. An important next goal is to implement or enhance reduction and reuse programs, including an existing office supply & collection re-use program, and a “take it or leave it (TIOLI) reuse store.
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Donny Addison (Auburn U)- is the Recycling & Solid Waste Coordinator at Auburn University, and started the university’s recycling program. He was involved with the student environmental organization in 2000/2001. A waste audit he conducted in 2002 showed that the university could recycle 50% of what it threw away. He was hired full time in 2005, in facilities. A large paper recycling company helped his program get started. He began hiring students, and then full-time positions. His head of facilities was fully supportive and offered financial support, and Donny was able to hire 5 full-time employees plus student workers and an assistant.  He partners with 2 counties. Rapid growth required rapid learning on the job. He described details of Auburn’s recycling collection process – and the need to work with planning and architecture folks to design collection sites in buildings. (UNC Chapel Hill has good specifications.)

Shane Tedder (U Kentucky)-  is the Sustainability Coordinator in the office of Residence Life at U Kentucky (27,000 students). Shane described a recent “disaster” at a football game due to miscommunications to tailgaters while testing of a new system. UK has two recycling programs: 1) Physical Plant Division – office & academic, and 2) Student Affairs Division – residential facilities. The latter was founded by students, but no longer student-run, although labor is provided by students. Funding for the program is provided by a student fee on residence life side - $3/semester - which provides 2/3 of budget. The other 1/3 comes from sales of materials. All fixed costs are covered through the student fee. The money from sales determines which experimental, educational and pilot projects they can do. The Physical Plant Division charges a small surcharge called “disposal fee” which is tacked on to expenditures on campus. The money funds recycling and disposal programs. The fee is a percentage of purchase, less than 1%. The EVP for Finance, Purchasing and PPD put it together. It funds surplus property and recycling. UK is working on reduction measures next.