BRIEF: New truck to be used in recycling plan

Recycling Coordinator Al Pallanti said this week that the new 20-ton capacity truck will be used to haul mixed paper to the Newman Paper Board Company in Northeast Philly where it is recycled. The truck has added 14 new non-residential stops to the previous recycling route, including the Law School, Steinberg-Dietrich Hall and Van Pelt Library. Pallanti said that the University does not receive any compensation for the paper, but that it also avoids dumping and disposal charges. "We investigated the market [ for paper] and it's in bad condition," Pallanti said."This way there's no charge to dump, we're not paying dumping fees, and we're not sending it to landfills." Starting this year, the University has placed special bins in buildings for the purposes of collecting recyclable materials. The University currently collects 25 tons of mixed paper a week from these bins. Aluminum cans, the other main recyclable material collected, are not being recovered in a regular basis because they disappear soon after the trash is placed out, according to Pallanti. "They're a main target," he said. "But at least they're still being diverted from the waste stream and are being recycled." -- Margaret Kane

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