2008 Woodie Awards
ECO-MIND
The path our garbage takes once it leaves our hands is more complicated than you think
Nate Anderson
Issue date: 3/7/06 Section: Columns
- Page 1 of 1
Our society makes it easy to put our various wastes in containers and forget about it. If fact, much of what we buy is designed to be used only once and then discarded. It seems that no matter how much trash we produce one day, we can wake up the next day with a clean slate. The problem with this approach is that how much we produce and what we do with it makes a big difference in the impact these wastes have on our environment. Maybe if we know more about what happens to today's trash, we may take more care in how much we produce tomorrow and where it goes. So, here's what happens to your wastes after you throw them "away".
In the UVM buildings, after waste is placed in the receptacles by students, faculty and staff, it is taken by custodial staff to outdoor dumpsters. Trash is collected on campus by a local contractor, All-Cycle Waste, and brought to a transfer station in Williston. There, it is compacted and then brought by truck to a secure landfill in Coventry Vermont. Thus, your waste is handled by many different people after you throw it "away" and the people of Coventry take the final responsibility for our trash, as well as that of much of the rest of the state.
Material in the recycling bins is picked up by UVM's recycling truck and brought to the Materials Recycling Facility in Williston which is run by the Chittenden County Solid Waste Department (CSWD). Here, the material is sorted into groups of paper and glass, plastic and metal containers. These materials are then shipped out of state to factories for recycling in various parts of the country. Unfortunately, trash sorts conducted by UVM Eco-Reps have shown that that a large proportion (about half) of the materials in the trash bins could have been recycled. These materials all end up in the hole in the ground in Coventry instead of finding new life as useful materials.
We produce a lot of other types of wastes here at the university. For example, cooking oil from the dining facilities are collected by Green Technologies located in Winooski Vermont where it is converted into bio-diesel fuel. Food waste (compostable waste) is collected by the dining hall staff and brought to the Burlington Intervale, where a commercial composting facility turns it into nutrient rich soil. To read more about composting on campus and how students in the residence halls and even off campus can participate in this program, go to www.uvm.edu/recycle.
The good news is that the recycled materials are finding new useful life as carpets (for plastics), new paper (100% recycled paper is easily available for most campus uses and impossible to distinguish from paper made from forests), and new metal products. The key to making this system work is for people to buy products made from these recycled materials. Check the labels of the things you're thinking about buying. People who use recycled materials are proud of that fact and will be sure to tell you about it.
The people in UVM's solid waste department care a lot about their job and sees the importance of waste management every day. Help make their job easier by "thinking before you toss!"
To read more about any of this go to the the recycling web page. There are links to CSWD and excellent recycling and waste conservation tips there as well. Stay tuned in to the Eco-mind column for more details new information regarding recycling campaigns on campus.
In the UVM buildings, after waste is placed in the receptacles by students, faculty and staff, it is taken by custodial staff to outdoor dumpsters. Trash is collected on campus by a local contractor, All-Cycle Waste, and brought to a transfer station in Williston. There, it is compacted and then brought by truck to a secure landfill in Coventry Vermont. Thus, your waste is handled by many different people after you throw it "away" and the people of Coventry take the final responsibility for our trash, as well as that of much of the rest of the state.
Material in the recycling bins is picked up by UVM's recycling truck and brought to the Materials Recycling Facility in Williston which is run by the Chittenden County Solid Waste Department (CSWD). Here, the material is sorted into groups of paper and glass, plastic and metal containers. These materials are then shipped out of state to factories for recycling in various parts of the country. Unfortunately, trash sorts conducted by UVM Eco-Reps have shown that that a large proportion (about half) of the materials in the trash bins could have been recycled. These materials all end up in the hole in the ground in Coventry instead of finding new life as useful materials.
We produce a lot of other types of wastes here at the university. For example, cooking oil from the dining facilities are collected by Green Technologies located in Winooski Vermont where it is converted into bio-diesel fuel. Food waste (compostable waste) is collected by the dining hall staff and brought to the Burlington Intervale, where a commercial composting facility turns it into nutrient rich soil. To read more about composting on campus and how students in the residence halls and even off campus can participate in this program, go to www.uvm.edu/recycle.
The good news is that the recycled materials are finding new useful life as carpets (for plastics), new paper (100% recycled paper is easily available for most campus uses and impossible to distinguish from paper made from forests), and new metal products. The key to making this system work is for people to buy products made from these recycled materials. Check the labels of the things you're thinking about buying. People who use recycled materials are proud of that fact and will be sure to tell you about it.
The people in UVM's solid waste department care a lot about their job and sees the importance of waste management every day. Help make their job easier by "thinking before you toss!"
To read more about any of this go to the the recycling web page. There are links to CSWD and excellent recycling and waste conservation tips there as well. Stay tuned in to the Eco-mind column for more details new information regarding recycling campaigns on campus.