This year, according to an annual sustainability report, the University has seen a significant increase in the amount of products being recycled.
Tony Johnson, executive director of Logistics and Support Services, said he makes it his goal to pay close attention to the University’s environmental impact. When any delivery is sent to the Ancillary Services Building, where the office is located, the goal is to limit the amount of waste produced.
“As soon as we open up the doors, our first thought is, ‘What can we recycle?’” Johnson said.
When recyclable goods come to Johnson’s office, they are sorted, separated into bales and then loaded onto tractor-trailers that can carry 44,000 pounds at a time.
Johnson said Logistics and Support Services sends about 75 of these tractor-trailers each year. This means that this fiscal year, the University delivered about 3.3 million pounds – 1,650 tons – of recycled waste.
There are recycling bins all over campus, but some students choose to throw their waste into the garbage instead.
“If I see a recycling can and it’s by a trash can, I will probably recycle,” Lindley Kitchens, a junior majoring in digital media, said. “But I won’t go out of my way.”
Johnson encouraged everyone to do their part to help reduce the University’s carbon footprint.
“We want it,” Johnson said. “We want everything that we can get.”
