TL20040412_001 "Baltimore's #1 College Paper - Published Twice-Weekly - www.thetowerlight.com Monday, 4/12/04 SGA to vote on 'Queer' name 5 Brazilian poverty focus of lecture 5 'Last Five Years' to show at Paws 'Girl Next Door' unexpected hit Departments Opinion News 5 Nation 9 Campus briefs 10 Arts 15 He Says She Says 17 Sports 24 In this corner. 24 Face-Off. 22 Athlete of the Week 20 Classifieds 18 Recycling effort: mixed results Despite low student interest, collection problems and cost, program continues to meet yearly Maryland requirements Jenny Lehman The Towerlight Nearly 15 years after a recycling program debuted urging students to separate cans and paper, results of the campus-wide initiative are mixed. Blue containers marked for cans, glass and paper are often filled with trash, or left empty. Even when the right items make it to the bins, housekeeping employees sometimes dispose of it as garbage. Also, the cost of recycling limits expansion of this program. When students and faculty put trash into recycling bins, it not only contaminates recyclable items, but also makes more work for Towson employees, freshman environmental science major Jackie Carroll explained. Carroll began Students for Environmental Awareness this semester to try to improve environ mental conditions at Towson. """"Students need to be more aware of where the recycling bins are, what can be recycled, why it's important to recycling,"""" she said. """"There are so many people on this campus and we could all be doing something to help the environment, but we're just not"""" While people may not see it, a lot of hard work goes into Towson's recycling program, explained Gina Conroy, assistant contract services manager for Facilities Management. In the Landscape Services building near the Towson Center, employees like Donald Parker sort through recycling bins to find items that are not contaminated. Employees clean and separate glass bottles and even scrape cheese off of pizza boxes before placing items in the appropriate containers. """"Separating the glass is a little bit more simple than separating paper because you have the contamination, but it's not as bad; you can wash it off. The paper we can't wash,"""" Parker said. It's not a glamorous job, Conroy said, and a big part of the problem is finding enough labor. """"We need students' help,"""" she said, adding that paid summer employment is available to students. William Oxnard, contract services manager for Facilities Management, said many years ago stu dents were involved with the recycling program. However, once they graduated, nobody wanted to take over the program. """"As long as students participated in the program, then the program was a success,"""" he said. Jen Nickerson, one of the students who helped to start the program in the early 1990s, was later hired as recycling coordinator for the University. Today, few students are actively involved aside from those required by Judicial Affairs to serve community time. """"But obviously they don't want to be there,"""" Conroy said. """"They're just trying to fulfill their obligations."""" Despite the difficulties, Towson recycled 25.4 percent of its waste in 2003, passing the 20 percent requirement set by Maryland's governor in 1990. Last year the University recycled nine tons of glass, 12 tons of scrap metal and 7.8 tons of computer equipment. Paper is TU's largest recyclable product, with 216 tons of mixed paper and 341.3 tons of corrugated cardboard recycled last year. """"We are supposed to be a paperless society because of computers and technology, but now we generate more paper then we ever did,"""" Conroy said. See EFFORT, page 6 Lisa Johnson/The Towerhght Abner Gomez, an employee of Aramark, loads bags of shredded paper onto a truck at the recycling center on campus. Last year Towson recycled 216 tons of mixed paper and 341.3 tons of corrugated cardboard. The University meets recycling goals, but few students volunteer to become involved. Today High 50 Low 47 Tuesday High 61 Low 44 htt/tt Wednesday High 55 Low 41 Thursday High 59 Low 45 Friday High 60 Low 45"
