UNL recycling pilot project evaluates potential campus-wide recycling operation

A recycling pilot project that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln launched this semester would remove the barriers to recycling. The project is the first step toward the university’s goal of becoming a zero-waste campus by 2030, which is listed in last year’s Environment, Sustainability, and Resilience Master Plan.

The sustainability master plan defines zero-waste as diverting at least 90% of materials from the landfill.

UNL’s 2019 landfill diversion rate is 59%, which means 59% of UNL’s total waste was recycled, reused, composted, or diverted from landfills.

Morgan Hartman, project coordinator for Waste Management and Recycling Services, leads the implementation and management of the pilot project. She works closely with the Office of Sustainability and Custodial Services to develop and communicate educational resources.

UNL has never had a comprehensive recycling plan on campus. Colleges have tried to create their own recycling system over time, Hartman said. Recycling containers in one campus building may look different in another building.

“There could be different labels, different wording on the label,” Hartman said.

Additionally, a volunteer from each department is responsible for collecting the recyclables and getting it to a refuse/recycling material collector, who will then transport the recyclables to a facility.

Hartman said some buildings still don’t have the recycling infrastructure because it has never been a standard across the board.

The UNL community can find recycling and landfill stations with standardized signage throughout eight pilot buildings across campus, replacing mismatched containers that were previously in circulation. The modular-designed stations have three streams- landfill, paper and plastic and aluminum.

Data collection is a huge part of this project. Hartman and members of the Office of Sustainability conduct waste audits to better understand the composition of the waste stream and what could be diverted from the landfill.

Anna Oetting, a natural resources master’s student, helps Hartman with the waste audits.

“We would basically just dive into the trash,” Oetting said.

The audit begins with weighing the total weight of all trash bags. Then, they would reweigh the waste after separating it into three different categories- landfill, organic waste, which includes paper towels and compostable food, and recyclables.

“The ultimate goal is to increase the amount of recyclables that we're seeing and decrease the amount of contamination in those recycling streams,” Hartman said. Examples of contaminants would be food waste or plastic bags.

Hartman said recyclable materials must be in the right containers to ensure each commodity stays as clean as possible.

“Right now, we're finding a lot of recyclable material in our landfill stream that could be diverted,” Hartman said.

Aside from waste audits, community feedback from the pilot project will also help determine the feasibility of implementing a campus-wide recycling process, Hartman said.

According to Hartman, a survey from the Office of Sustainability in 2019 found 93% of 9,000 staff and students identified recycling as a priority.

Sometimes, Hartman can be spotted talking with building occupants that are experiencing the pilot project. “People are much more likely to recycle and recycle correctly when they have a personal interaction with someone,” Hartman said.

Aside from supporting the project as a student, Oetting is also a communication specialist at the Office of Sustainability. She spreads educational resources and awareness of the pilot project through the department's social media accounts.

Since the stations are only in eight buildings, not everyone in the UNL community will be aware of the project, Oetting said. “Morgan and I sat down to kind of brainstorm how we could spread info about it.”

Oetting posted pictures of transporting the stations into pilot buildings before winter break. She continued the social media series when the semester started, with explanatory videos of how to use a station.

The latest video shows how to dispose of cardboard. “You break it down, you make sure it's empty, and then you tuck it behind the station,” Oetting said.

In this pilot project, custodians monitor and manage the recycling and waste stations every day at the pilot buildings.

“Custodial has always removed waste from buildings, and it was just natural that we would be part of that recycling effort,” DeJonge said.

The department is working to refine the waste management process in this project. Some custodians will go station-to-station to empty the containers throughout the building, DeJonge said. “Others, they may do it as they're cleaning along the way.”

When the project first started, each station only had one container for paper, plastic, and aluminum that mixed the recyclables. DeJonge said custodians had to separate the recyclables with plastic liners, which “kind of defeats the purpose of recycling.” After bringing up the issue with Hartman, each stream now has a separate container.

Right now, custodians are not lining station containers with plastic. “If it's a container that we can take out and rinse out, we would rather do that than to have a plastic bag that goes into the landfill,” DeJonge said.

Oetting highlighted the importance of Custodial Services’ partnership in this project. She said sometimes the UNL community takes custodians and maintenance workers for granted. “They were moving the stations and cleaning the stations, and they'll be the ones that help handle the stations later on.”

“For recycling to work here, at the university, it has got to be a team effort,” DeJonge said. She sees Custodial Services as the missing link in this recycling process. DeJonge said that if custodians are given the opportunity to help out, they will do it.

“I believe staff, students, and faculty are aware of what we do and are very appreciative of our efforts,” DeJonge said.