{"id":90133,"date":"2014-03-12T08:12:01","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T12:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=90133"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:12:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:12:14","slug":"rebuilding-uconns-recycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/03\/rebuilding-uconns-recycling\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebuilding UConn\u2019s Recycling"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sustainable<\/a><\/div>\n

Sustainable UConn: How our values about the environment, clean energy, and social responsibility are greening the Husky Blue.<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite so much good news to report on this Sustainable UConn journey to \u201cGreen the Husky Blue,\u201d occasionally we hit a bump in the road.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A recycling receptacle at the Student Union. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The results are now in for UConn\u2019s recycling efforts at the main campus in 2013, and they\u2019re not encouraging. For single-stream recycling<\/a> \u2013 commingled paper, plastic, cardboard, bottles, and cans \u2013 both the ratio of recycling compared to trash, and the total volume of recyclables collected last year, were at three-year lows.<\/p>\n

In 2013, our rate of a mere 18 percent for single-stream recycling \u2013 measured by the weight of commingled recyclables collected as a percentage of the weight of trash collected from both indoor and outdoor bins \u2013 was at its lowest since UConn introduced single-stream recycling in 2009. And this rate plummeted even lower during the summer months last year \u2013 below 10 percent \u2013 less than half the rate of previous summers. What\u2019s goin\u2019 on (or not)?<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
An EcoHusky student captured this photo during a recent waste audit. Someone had mislabeled this recycling bin, which should have had a trash bin next to it. (UConn Office of Environmental Policy Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Considering the relatively high environmental IQ of UConn students, most of whom are from home towns where curbside recycling is mandatory, this trend seems all wrong. And given that undergraduate students participating in Office of Environmental Policy\u2019s latest Environmental Awareness Survey<\/a> ranked recycling as the top environmental issue on campus, why is our single-stream rate so low?<\/p>\n

One factor has to do with the bins. The EcoHusky student group recently conducted a recycling bin audit in select campus buildings and found a few problems:<\/p>\n