The Communique

Issue date: 1/28/10 Section: News

Commingled recycling, which expands the kinds of materials that can be recycled, is under way at Kirkwood Community College's main campus

With commingling, which started earlier this month, all types of plastics, paper and metals can be placed in one receptacle and recycled. Until now, the only recycling receptacles available on campus are for pop bottles, pop cans and paper.

The new recycling program is being funded by a $3,663 grant awarded in May by the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency. The grant pays for new commingling bins, signage, materials to promote the program, and a part-time student position of recycling coordinator.

Barb Dobling, a Kirkwood sociology professor, along with her spring 2009 Sociology of the Environment students, applied for the grant. The students collected data on Kirkwood's waste stream by doing a "Dumpster dive" last spring. The students sorted through five Kirkwood Dumpsters and found that much of the trash that had been thrown away could be recycled if a commingled recycling program were implemented.

Initially, the new commingling receptacles are placed only in the new Cedar Hall. But if the program is a success, commingling bins will be placed in the rest of the buildings.

Austin Newton, a first-year LAN management major, is the recycling coordinator.

Newton said the commingling bins are placed in recycling stations on each floor in the new Cedar Hall. Wastebaskets will no longer be placed in the classrooms but rather in the recycling station. "We found that many people don't bother to recycle when a wastebasket is more convenient," Newton said.

City Carton Recycling will pick up and sort the discarded materials. Kirkwood will pay for this service.

Newton aid materials that can be recycled under the commingling program include aluminum, plastic, cardboard, plastic bags, rinsed-out yogurt containers, phone books and magazines.

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