Rowan recycling team cleans up rumors

Recycling at Rowan University is prominently advertised on the sides of recycling bins and in residence halls, but John Imperatore, Director of Resource Management, says many students do not know how the program works.

“We still have a lot of work to do to make sure everyone understands it,” Imperatore said.

The “single stream process,” a program that the Student Recycling team implemented about a year ago, allows recycling sites on-campus to collect mixed commodities. The recyclables are then sorted at a recycling facility.

“It is designed to be easier for the user, so there is less guesswork when they go up to a station,” Imperatore said. “We have been at it for close to a year, but there are still changes going on.”

Lindsey Conlow, recycling research analyst of the Student Recycling Team and senior environmental studies and geography major, said that looking at it on a long-term scale, Rowan will save money by not having to pay large landfill fees.

“Even though the single stream recycling program is intended to make it easier to recycle, I think it’s hard for students to remember this, therefore feeling that recycling is too much of a hassle and end up disposing their recyclables in the trash,” Conlow said.

“Our major project that we are also working on is implementing a food waste recycling program. As of right now, all the food that students do not eat is thrown away and sent to landfills.”

Conlow said that sending uneaten food to landfills costs the university money through landfill fees, and adds unnecessary waste to the earth.

“If Rowan implements a food waste program, the food waste will be composted and turned into valuable fertilizer then can be used on campus, thus saving Rowan more money by not having to buy fertilizer,” Conlow said.

Imperatore and the Student Recycling Team work alongside various university committees and administrators, and are looking to begin new programs in the future.

Imperatore said that the university is also looking to revert back to collecting trash as they have in the past, with dumpster sites all over campus. Then, the custodial staff would be able to directly throw out the trash they collect.

The current system requires housekeeping staff to leave the trash for a night crew, who then takes the trash to various dumpster sites around campus.

Imperatore hopes that the recycling programs will become stronger in the future.

“We are recycling,” Imperatore said. “Is it at the rate that is ideal? No. It is a student run program, and it is improving. We have a couple of educational [programs] we do every year, but obviously we have to do more to make it better.”

The club plans to begin more educational programs for students in the future.

“We are trying to organize a series of small educational programs to inform students how recycling works,” Conlow said. “We plan to do some educational [programs] for Greek organizations next year as well as distribute pamphlets during freshman orientation.”

For more information about recycling at Rowan, please visit rowan.edu/rugreen. Questions and concerns can be addressed by contacting rugreen@rowan.edu.