U. already complies with new recycling law

University officials said this week the school is already in compliance with a new recycling ordinance that the city will put into effect starting Oct. 14. The new regulation -- Philadelphia's Commercial Regulations for Private Collection of Recyclable and Non-recyclable Materials -- calls for the recycling of office paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, scrap metal and organic yard debris. Under the new rule, businesses using private recycling companies must fill out a Commercial Solid Waste Recycling Plan information sheet and return it to the city. Then they must begin recycling the designated materials. Affected companies must also recycle two additional materials in the second year of the program. The businesses can chose these two materials from a list determined by the city, according to the plan. Physical Plant Director of Recycling Al Palente said the University anticipated the new rule four years ago. "We knew in 1990 that this ordinance would be enforced, so we prepared for it," he said. "The University is well in compliance with these requirements," Palente added. "Where the law only requires 25 percent of all commodities to be recycled, the University recycles 30 percent." In addition to the required waste materials, the University has been recycling glass for the past three years. The University has done voluntarily what the city has now mandated, Palente said. But College senior Ted Kartzman, former coordinator of recycling for the Penn Environmental Group, said the University's recycling could still be more efficient. "The University could be doing a better job," he said. Kartzman said glass is only recycled on three parts of campus and he added the dining halls could be more careful when recycling. Although the University has been recycling, many other commercial establishments in Philadelphia have not. The new ordinance will require them to do so. "Many larger institutions have already been doing this recycling," said Barbara L. Sherf of the Philadelphia Streets Department Recycling Office. "They know it lowers their trash disposal costs and is environmentally correct." The Philadelphia Streets Department Recycling Office has launched a campaign to help those businesses that do not have recycling programs to develop plans by the Oct. 14 deadline. The program will help provide new opportunities for these businesses and the city by lowering the cost of disposal and creating new jobs for those involved in the recycling industry, Sherf said.