Glass recycling expanded to almost all residential areas

Spurred by students’ initiative and environmental consciousness, the Sustainability and Environmental Management Office (SEMO) expanded access to glass recycling bins to six new campus locations and converted the event-only bins at Rand and the Student Life Center into public bins.

 “The expansion of glass recycling locations was prompted by both an observed increase in volume at The Commons Center location and requests that were received from students, and from campus offices such as the Dean of The Commons’ office,” said Matthew Buckley, SEMO campus waste and recycling manager.

 The only facilities previously available for glass recycling were a public container behind The Commons Center and private bins at Rand and the SLC since they were put into place in 2008.

  “Unfortunately, recycling glass is not nearly as lucrative as other materials such as aluminum, and collecting the glass creates more safety hazards and logistical headaches, so it was never regarded as a priority,” said Michael Diamond, president of Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Responsibility (SPEAR).

 After SEMO’s expansion of the glass recycling program, glass can now be recycled in glass recycling bins at Towers West, Moore College, Warren College, Rand/Sarratt, The Commons Center, Crawford House, Lewis House and McTyeire.

“The expansion of access to glass recycling is part of our continued efforts to expand recycling options for all recyclable materials,” Buckley said. “As result of these ongoing efforts, Vanderbilt doubled its recycling amount in the last two years from 3 million pounds to 6 million pounds.”

All colors of glass will be recycled as long as the containers are emptied and placed in the glass recycling bins. However, the glass recycling is only a drop-off service, so glass left anywhere except in the glass recycling bins will not be recycled and housekeeping will throw them away.

Residence halls around campus already had aluminum, plastic and paper recycling bins. The lack of availability for glass recycling on campus became apparent to Towers Resident Adviser Cassie Doyle and Area Coordinator Matthew Sinclair when they noticed that residents were trying to recycle glass bottles in the paper, plastic and aluminum bins.

 Last spring, Doyle and Sinclair decided to try running their own glass recycling program in Towers as a “Go Green” initiative for St. Patrick’s Day. They placed a few small recycling bins, similar in size to the ones provided to residents in their rooms, in Towers to gauge whether residents would take advantage of the glass recycling facilities.

“We placed the bins in Towers and it seemed to become rather popular, so much so that students were even separating the glass and adding extra containers if the ones we set out were full,” Sinclair said.

The glass bottles were transported to the glass recycling container behind The Commons Center. At the end of last spring, Doyle and Sinclair’s beta glass recycling program had collected approximately 7,500 glass bottles in only one and a half months. Doyle graduated last year but another Towers RA, Claire Gamino, approached Diamond and Sinclair this year about getting Towers a permanent glass recycling bin.

“I am an RA in Tower 4 and I have always had an issue with the fact the we don’t recycle glass in the upperclass areas. I am ‘that girl’ that insists on recycling everything that I possibly can,” Gamino said. “What irked me most was that students would bring their glass bottles down to the recycling area and would leave them neatly organized, yet they would be thrown away by housekeeping because there wasn’t a program in place.”

Using existing resources, Buckley found the necessary bins for Towers and Kissam by mid-October and redesignated the private bins at Rand as public ones.

“When the gorgeous green glass recycling bins were installed, I received an email and was ecstatic,” Gamino said — she is now using posters to educate people about the improved glass recycling facilities so that residents use them.

The safety hazard posed to residents and residential workers was another factor that contributed to the need for glass recycling bins in residential areas. Without a specific bin for glass recycling, students had just been leaving glass in other bins and on the floor, creating a safety hazard.

McTyeire Head Resident Won Ki Lee contacted Diamond to expand glass recycling there after a staff member was hurt.

“Sadly, a housekeeper cut herself earlier in the semester on broken glass that was thrown in a garbage bag, again underscoring the safety hazard posed by a lack of glass recycling infrastructure,” Diamond said.

This was brought to Buckley’s attention, and he expanded glass recycling access to not only McTyeire but also Crawford and Lewis, meaning that almost all residential areas on campus now had access to glass recycling bins.

According to Buckley, because Vanderbilt students work for SEMO and empty the recycling bins in residential areas, Vanderbilt’s recycling vendor and its personnel will directly service the glass recycling bins, protecting students and staff from potential injury. The bins will be emptied by “mechanical means” at the recycling facility.

 “The recycling location and handling methods were implemented this way to address concerns with both safety, cleanliness and aesthetics,” Buckley said.

SEMO does not plan to add any more glass recycling locations but will make sure that the capacity of the new bins matches the volume of glass recycled.

Gamino believes the glass recycling bins have the potential to make a big difference — she has faith that “every little bit counts.”

“The amount of waste generated by humans is something than can be changed quickly but have an incredible impact,” Gamino said. “Enough plastic water bottles are thrown away every year to stretch to the moon and halfway back if laid end to end. If that doesn’t scream that we have an overconsumption issue, I don’t know what does. I am passionate about sustainability and living responsibly, of which I believe recycling is very important part.”

Gamino said she is proud of the Vanderbilt administration for responding to student voices about glass recycling. “I felt like I was heard and not simply dismissed when I brought these concerns forward,” she said. “From my perspective, Vanderbilt makes sustainability a priority. They don’t throw a little money at a project or two to satiate the environmentally conscious students, but really try to make lasting improvements. There is still a long way to go, but each step is a reason to celebrate.”