Forrest Roden picks through trash for a living. The University junior spends five hours a day, two days a week plunging elbow-deep into sacks of dirty paper plates, splintered chopsticks and used napkins, surrounded by the warm, fetid odor of decomposing plant matter.
Roden admitted his job with Campus Recycling’s compost program is a dirty one, but he wants to hold onto it, he said.
“I feel good about what I do,” Roden said, “I’m protecting the land I walk on and the water I drink.”
But Roden and many of his coworkers will lose their jobs next year unless the ASUO increases the program’s budget by $113,697, said University Environmental Resource and Recycling Manager Karyn Kaplan, who runs Campus Recycling. That money would compensate for a dramatic increase in Campus Recycling’s costs for next year, caused by the advent of the composting program and an increase in hiring costs. Many within the ASUO, however, are nervous because the move will likely increase student fees.
The compost program began in October 2008 after the ASUO granted Campus Recycling nearly $35,000 to hire its director. Now, Kaplan says, the program needs $83,341 to continue composting.
Hiring expenses for Campus Recycling have also increased. The program has traditionally used the Federal Work-Study program, which pays part of some students’ salaries. However, the Bush administration has cut the number of work study jobs available, increasing expenses for employers who use the program. Meanwhile, the state minimum wage has gone from $7.95 to $8.40 per hour, which means the program must pay its employees more.
Unless the program gets enough money to cover increases in its expenses, it will be forced to let eight to 15 employees go, Kaplan said. Roden, who is employed through the work-study program, said he doesn’t want to think about what that will mean for him and his coworkers. His job pays his rent and his bills.
“It would be a severe blow to me,” Roden said of the prospect of losing his job, which he added would probably force him to find a manual labor job in a field such as construction.
Roughly 40 students work for Campus Recycling, making it one of the largest student employers on campus. Founded in 1990, the organization has provided a model for recycling programs across the country, Kaplan said.
Campus Recycling handles nearly 50 types of material, ranging from conventional recyclables such as paper, glass and aluminum to less common items – padded envelopes, hazardous waste and tennis ball cans. In the 2007-08 school year, Campus Recycling collected more than 3,200 tons of material for recycling, recovering nearly half of the recyclable material used at the University, according to statistics compiled by the program.
“This is a good representation of what student fee money should be used for,” Kaplan said, later adding, “It would be kind of an embarrassment if they didn’t fund us.”
However, the ASUO’s Department Finance Committee, which decides the recycling program’s funding, recommended a seven percent increase to the program’s existing $202,135 budget, well short of the 62.5 percent increase the program requested.
Under ASUO rules, the DFC can only increase its total budget – currently $872,231-by seven percent per year, which means that, even if it funded Campus Recycling to the limit of its ability, it would still only be able to give the program just more than $61,000 without lowering the budgets of other programs.
“There’s no point in partially funding services,” said DFC member Shiraz Bengali, who worked with Kaplan to create the DFC’s recommendation. He said he decided instead to recommend funding only the program’s services outside composting.
Kaplan rejected the ASUO’s explanation for not giving her what she asked for, saying ASUO is funding non-essential services over the more-deserving Campus Recycling.
Kaplan began contacting people to raise support for Campus Recycling, circulating a petition and encouraging students and community members to attend a special meeting the DFC held to discuss Campus Recycling. The mobilization of support filled the Coquille Room in the EMU. During the meeting, ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz said he would veto any DFC budget that didn’t fully fund Campus Recycling.
Roden attended the meeting. Though he claimed he didn’t understand much of what went on, he said he was reassured by the support of the program. The committee has not yet decided whether to increase the size of its overall budget to give Campus Recycling as much as allowed under the ASUO Constitution.
“I hope there is enough common sense out there that they wouldn’t allow us to lose our jobs,” Roden said.
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