New contract improves recycling at CSUEB
A new contract with Waste Management Inc. offers a new way to process trash and recyclables to decrease the amount of waste going into landfills. (Photo: Erin Merdinger)
- March 16, 2010
Adding another notch to its “green” belt, Cal State East Bay has introduced a new way to process university trash and recyclables to reduce the amount of waste products going into landfills.
A new contract with Waste Management Inc. that started in February aims to enhance the way CSUEB sorts waste from recyclables.
“The goal is to have less materials go into landfills and more into the recycling stream,” said Robert Andrews, director of Facilities Operations at Cal State East Bay.
Previously, a grounds worker collected the full garbage and recycle bins from across campus and put the garbage into an on-site compactor before it was collected by Waste Management Inc.
Through the new, more efficient process, employees at the waste management company will sort recyclable items such as paper, bottles and cans from sandwich wrappers, dried-up pens and other trash at the processing plant. The sorting process currently involves dry waste only, because wet waste—such as paper, cardboard and other light materials that become wet—is considered a contaminant and can’t be recycled, Andrews said.
The new approach to trash removal also will assist the university in meeting the conditions of a 1999 law requiring state agencies and large state facilities to divert at least 50 percent of their solid waste from disposal facilities.
CSUEB Energy Manager Evelyn Lopez-Munoz said she hopes the new waste management method will contribute to Cal State East Bay’s roster of green practices. She estimated that the previous waste management system on campus allowed the university to divert 50 percent to 60 percent of its waste from landfills. Lopez-Munoz said she anticipates that the new method will increase the diversion rate by an additional 20 percent.
“Because we are an educational facility it shows we are moving forward with the green movement,” Lopez-Munoz said. “We don’t want our recyclables going into landfills.”
Andrews and Lopez-Munoz plan to evaluate the new waste removal process in three months to determine whether the university should continue its use or pursue other ways to decrease waste.