Last fall, two student groups approached Facilities Planning and Management with a common goal to create a central trash and recycle pilot program. Students from the LEAD Capstone as well as Drake Environmental Action League (DEAL) joined forces to audit our recycle program throughout campus and developed a proposal to benefit the environment and address the student body’s request for a more consistent recycle program throughout campus. This proposal was recently implemented as a pilot program in select academic and administration buildings.

Numerous trash and recycle stations have been placed throughout the common areas in response to the students’ request for consistent recycling locations. Trash and recycle containers have been removed from classrooms as well as office areas. The pilot programs ask everyone to dispose of their trash and recycling at centralized locations, with the goal of:

• Eliminating over 50,000 trash liners from entering landfills each year.
• Having a convenient and consistent outlet for recyclable materials.
• Directing budget funding and labor hours to other campus needs.
• Enhancing the health and well-being of staff members by decreasing the number of times they need to repetitively bend, emptying thousands of trash and recycle containers around campus each day.

We will be seeking feedback on the pilot program over the next couple of months. The overall goal is to implement the program campus wide. Facilities Planning and Management would like to thank all members of DEAL and the LEAD Capstone group for their time and energy to help make Drake a better place.

— Mitch Wieczorek, Facilities Planning and Management