Recycling program is expanded
Recycling isn't just for cans and paper anymore. Recycling on campus has picked up steam since the beginning of the year. According to Yost, students are recycling in far greater numbers this year than last, to the tune of 25 tons of mixed paper each week. And Yost expects this figure to increase as more bins are installed in more buildings. The bins for plastic, provided by Spruce Hill Recycling, are scattered throughout dormitories on campus. In addition, off-campus residents can bring recyclable plastics to 40th and Locust streets on the first and third Saturdays of each month. Representatives from PERG will be there from 8 a.m. until noon to take the bags of trash. PERG has developed the drop-off point in conjunction with two community groups: Spruce Hill/Cedar Park Recycling and the Firehouse Plastics Recycling Project. Angie Coughlan, a volunteer with the second group, said that she enjoys working with members of the University community. "This is a great way for the community and the University to get together on something," Coughlan said. Seventy-five to eighty percent of plastic containers are recyclable, Coughlan said. Recyclable plastic containers usually bear the triangular recycling symbol with either the number one or two inside the triangle. Since June, the FPRP has been collecting plastics in front of the Firehouse Farmers' Market. After only 10 pick-up dates, FPRP has collected 3.1 tons of plastics and hopes to involve local laundromats and restaurants. Plastics recycling became possible in January when two corporations, Waste Management and DuPont, opened a plastics recycling plant in the city where scrap plastics are transformed into highway signs, plastic lumber and laundry detergent bottles.