PVCC Puma Press: March 2006

Let’s talk trash—not just idle talk, but the rotten, stinking, truth: Unfortunately, it is human nature to be wasteful and careless with trash.

Throughout history, excessive trash has had serious effects, such as the bubonic plague, cholera and typhoid fever to name a few. Still, for centuries, humans have dealt with trash essentially the same way they deal with it today: by dumping, burning, recycling and waste minimization.

In Phoenix, there are problems of dwindling landfill space and increasing costs of operating new landfills. There is a need to protect groundwater and reduce methane gas associated with landfills. In response, the City of Phoenix designed a recycling program that offers a voluntary curbside recycling program for its residents.

However, large institutions such as schools, apartments, and hospitals have to develop their own programs to help conserve landfill space and preserve natural resources. So what does PVCC do about all the rubbish around campus? The college recycles paper. Paper (newspaper, junk mail, cardboard) is the No. 1 recycled material according to the Phoenix Recycles program. Paper makes up 80 percent of the total composition of recyclables collected. It is also the least expensive product to collect and recycle for large institutions.

Large gray garbage cans are positioned in numerous buildings and offices around the PVCC campus. They are designated by small signs taped to them reading “Recycle Paper Only.” Weyerhaeuser is the company that provides these cans and collects the paper to be recycled for $110 per month.

“We’re having them (Weyerhaeuser) pick up the office paper and cardboard,” says Connie Heit, Office Coordinator I, Buildings & Grounds Department. “They also shred some of our confidential office paper.”

Conversely, other schools around the Valley such as Cactus Shadows High School and Career Success High School, to name a few, are cashing in their paper by using Abitibi Paper Retrievers. “We actually pay you for the paper,” says Penny Crabb, an Abitibi representative. “It’s a great fundraiser for special projects.” Abitibi provides bright green and yellow containers placed in convenient areas, such as a school or church parking lot where they are easily seen by the surrounding community.

“All people can use the bins to drop off their newspapers, magazines, and catalogs. In fact, 80 percent of all the paper collected comes from the surrounding community,” says Crabb. “It’s reaching out to the community for a good cause; it benefits everyone.” Full bins are weighed by a scale on the collection truck. The company then sends a monthly statement and a check to the school for the amount collected. According to the Abitibi-Consolidated Recycling Division, over $4 million was paid to participating organizations in 2006 alone.

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	'Each of the colleges takes care of its own recycling...there is no centralized program'
	—Charles Reinebold Media Relations Manager MCCCD
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Heit notes that there would be problems with PVCC’s using Abitibi.

“Abitibi doesn’t shred paper and it doesn’t recycle cardboard,” says Heit. “With the outside bins, we would have to have a lot of people designated to take the paper from the classrooms to the outside bins, and that would be laborious on our part.” She explains that PVCC would have to pay for the extra labor involved in taking paper from the classrooms to the outside bins.

“That’s where the costs come in,” says Heit. “Weyerhaeuser puts the bins out and empties the bins. Essentially, the company hires people to do all the labor for us. They shred paper for us; they pick up our cardboard; they do a lot of different services for us.”

The costs to recycle other products such as glass, plastic or aluminum can be too expensive for schools such as PVCC. One option is to request recycling services from the company that currently provides the regular garbage pick up.

Charles Reinebold, media relations manager for the Maricopa County Community Colleges, says that each of the colleges takes care of its own recycling. Facilities managers at each college (and the district office) have recycling programs that include paper and other recyclable materials. But there is no centralized recycling program.

Phoenix’s Waste Management, Inc. provides the general trash pick-up at PVCC. Jeff Brandstein, an account manager at Waste Management said an 8-yard recycle bin that is 6-feet wide and 6-feet deep costs $83–$215 per month, depending on how many times a week it needs to be emptied. Additional fuel and environmental fees are billed monthly at about 10 percent of the pick-up amounts.

David Matus, director facilities at PVCC, says the best way to recycle these products is for students to put together their own recycling program due to the need for added resources that the school doesn’t have at the moment.

In other words, the students at PVCC need to be more resourceful than the college itself when it comes to the issue of recycling. In the past, the Puma Press was told that the college does not recycle newspapers and that the club has to throw out leftover Puma Press issues. Just recently, Donna Black, a Weyerhaeuser representative, said that they would accept and be able to recycle Puma Press newspapers.

The benefits of recycling are infinite. “The City of Phoenix recycles over 325 tons of materials per day,” says Robert Amaya, Phoenix's Recycling Information Specialist. “That is 300-plus tons of materials not going into our landfill. That equates to about 126,000 tons collected and processed annually in our recycling program.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, recycling motivates the development of greener technologies, supplies valuable raw materials to industry, prevents emissions of many greenhouse gases and water pollutants, saves energy, and creates jobs.

There are so many advantages to recycling. Are there any clubs or organizations at PVCC willing to initiate a recycling program? Aren’t the costs involved in a recycling program worth the payoff of a healthier environment? One resolution would be for students and faculty at PVCC to work together regarding recycling interest to help promote community development. After all, trash isn’t a departmental or club dilemma; it’s a human mess.