The small recycling bin sitting atop a trashcan in front of King Library may not look like much, but it is part of a larger initiative to investigate recycling on Miami University's campus.
According to Greg Vaughn, director of building and special services for physical facilities, the new recycling bin is a temporary test container to determine the cost effectiveness of outdoor recycling bins.
Vaughn said Physical Facilities will evaluate the $1,900 test bin over the next month to see how much it is used and whether it can stand up to Ohio's harsh winter climate.
Currently, he said there are 370 trashcans scattered around the Oxford campus, which could prove costly to replace at $1,900 each.
"With the overall financial situation, the chance of replacing all of those receptacles with recycling receptacles is not something that is going to be high on the priority list," Vaughn said.
According to Vaughn, Physical Facilities' next step will be to determine the most cost effective and sustainable solution for Miami's recycling needs.
"The next logical step is to see if (outdoor bins) make sense over people simply carrying containers inside (to indoor recycling bins)," Vaughn said. "The whole idea of sustainability is a lifestyle change and to get people more attuned to taking the next few steps to drop it in a recycling bin instead of trash bins, which are already in place inside the buildings."
Vaughn said physical facilities will soon receive a small grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to increase the number of recycling bins inside campus buildings.
Meg Ansley, a graduate student who works in Miami's Recycling Office, said Miami is lucky to have its own Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). The MRF is a specialized plant located on state Route 73 that receives, separates and prepares recyclable materials for marketing to end-user manufacturers.
"A lot of people don't know this, but selling recycling is not as easy as before," Ansley said. "We have been doing market research to find out how we get the most amount of money for our recyclables."
According to Ansley, most other college campuses have to ship their recycling to an outside MRF. Instead, Miami's MRF brings in revenue from selling cans and other material it collects from campus recycling sites to maintain its operations.
Adam Harris, an off-campus senator in Associated Student Government (ASG), said the idea for outdoor recycling bins started a couple years ago as environmental groups on campus took the project to physical facilities.
Ashley Perry, vice president for the Residence Hall Association, wrote a bill with Harris' help recommending outdoor recycling bins.
The bill went through ASG and university senate last spring before being compiled into a report that physical facilities reviewed in the summer and fall.
Ansley said she worries that adding more recycling bins to places like Slantwalk could create biohazards for employees who separate the items inside if students drop trash inside while walking home late at night.
Although Miami has not yet determined if outdoor recycling bins are cost effective, Stefan Linder, president of Miami's environmental club Green Oxford, believes this project is crucial.
"It's very important to have outdoor recycling bins on campus because many students and faculty would otherwise throw away recyclables in the outdoor trash cans," Linder said. "Say, if a student finished a bottle of water on their way to class, they now have the opportunity to recycle it without going out of their way to find a recycling bin somewhere else. It makes it a lot more convenient to recycle. And it's a good step towards creating a more sustainable campus."
