A new duty will be added to a few school’s faculty and staff job descriptions this year. Buried amongst qualifications such as research, publication and teaching experience will be this line, “Successful applicants will show a demonstrated ability to properly sort recyclables and take out their own trash.”

Programs at Purdue University, St. Michael’s College, University of Colorado at Boulder and University of Vermont are aimed at encouraging employees to be more conscious about both recycling and the amount of trash they produce. Their tactics vary but the basic idea is this; if employees are more aware of the trash they produce, they will produce less.

At Purdue, employees are provided with desk-side recycling containers but must walk to a central location to throw trash away. In its pilot phase the program saw recycling participation reach 99.5 percent and it is now being implemented campus-wide.

St. Michael’s College in Colchester, VT has begun to monitor employee trash. Employees who don’t comply with the recycling policy don’t get their trash picked up.

The University of Vermont has begun placing small, green “mini-bins” on employees’ desks in an effort to have them trash less. They are responsible for emptying both their mini-bin and recycling at a central location. This move could save close to $400,000 while also leading to more recycling.

Similarity, the University of Colorado at Boulder has eliminated office trash pick-up partly because employees were doing such a good job of recycling that there was often no trash to remove. Employees will be responsible for taking out what trash they do have.

Not only will these new programs help save money, they will also promote awareness of how daily lives and choices have an effect on the world. By returning to the basic responsibility of taking out the trash - something most everyone learns to do as a child - people are connected in an intimate way with an oft-overlooked aspect of life. It is this type of individual action, this returning to something so basic we tend to forget it even happens, that can ultimately have a huge impact on our communities and world. What an unexpected call to action it is; “Take out the Trash!”

For more information see:
Purdue - Innovative program boosts Purdue recycling, goes campus-wide
St. Michael’s College - Faculty at fault for trashing recyclables
University of Colorado at Boulder - Budget cuts prompt CU-Boulder to stop office trash pickup
University of Vermont - New Garbage Policy Reduces Costs, Waste