The University’s Campus Recycling Program will be recognized today with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2005 College/University Partner of the Year Award.
“Putting college recycling into the national agenda is really a positive step for the future of the environment,” University Environmental Resource and Recycling Manager Karyn Kaplan said.
Kaplan and University Housing Recycling Coordinator Robyn Hathcock traveled to Washington, D.C. this week to pick up the award at the WasteWise 2005 Annual Conference.
“I think it’s fantastic to be recognized,” Hathcock said. “To bring the University of Oregon into a national forum really benefits us and the rest of the country.”
Ten Partner of the Year Awards were given out this year in categories such as large organizations, small organizations and state and local governments.
About 1,800 organizations participate in the program.
Kaplan said the University joined the WasteWise program during the last academic year as part of its participation in RecycleMania, an annual EPA-endorsed competition between colleges and universities across the country aimed at reducing waste in campus residence halls.
The University placed second of 49 schools in the competition during the last academic year, and Hathcock said the University plans to compete again this year.
The 2004 College/University Partner of the Year Award went to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, which co-founded RecycleMania in 2001 and has since taken first place in three of the five competitions, according to the WasteWise Web site.
Kaplan said recycling is not a glorified form of garbage collection but a whole philosophy that can include buying products made from recycled materials and using nontoxic cleaners.
One aspect of the University’s recycling program is the Reusable Office Supply Exchange, which consists of a closet in Prince Lucien Campbell Hall where faculty members and student group members can drop off office supplies they don’t need and pick up things they do.
The exchange saves $20,000 per year in office supply costs, Kaplan said.
Campus Recycling also operates a furniture exchange for University departments.
Everything that is thrown into a landfill decomposes and emits greenhouse gases, which harm the ozone layer, Kaplan said, so throwing a couch that is still usable into a landfill rather than giving it to someone who could use it directly harms the environment.
The furniture exchange program prevented 10 tons of waste from entering landfills during the 2003-04 fiscal year, the most recent year that data is available.
“Originally, recycling was accepted in different places as a way to reduce roadside litter, and now it’s evolved to all these different uses,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan said that while many universities have successful recycling programs, the University stands out because of its students.
“Number one, student involvement is critical,” Kaplan said. “We have one of the most innovative recycling programs in the country in terms of use of students.”
Kaplan said the Campus Recycling Program has 45 paid student employees, while recycling programs at other universities tend to hire full-time workers.
Involving students in the process reaps long-term dividends, as Kaplan said University students who work for Campus Recycling often move to other cities and continue to work in recycling after they graduate.
On campus, the program has seen increasing success since it began in 1989, Kaplan said.
“The population of students has grown, and we’ve continued to decrease the amount of waste generated on campus,” Kaplan said.

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