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News

Recycling helm spent years unmanned

Former recycling committee member cites lack of support 
from administration as cause

by RACHAEL SEELEY
The Daily Cougar

After getting off to an award-winning start, the UH Recycling program lost direction, and students said at least one recycling bin was being emptied into the trash. 

Former UH Recycling and Conservation Committee Chairman Stephen Barth said the program lost vital University administrative support when senior buyer for the UH Physical Plant Frank Colson retired. 

Colson was instrumental in the program's early success and secured the initial funding from UH sanitary napkin machine proceeds in 1993.

"Quite frankly, Frank was really the guy who made this thing happen," Barth said.

After Colson's retirement, Barth said the recycling committee began having more difficulty gaining administrative cooperation on several recycling issues and that then-UH President Arthur K. Smith was not enthusiastic about the program. 

"I think it's disappointing that the University allowed this award-winning recycling and conservation program to kind of erode," Barth said. "It hasn't been totally erased, but it's certainly not where it could have been had ... administrative support been provided as was always envisioned."

Barth said attempts to convince Vice President of Plant Operations Dave Irvin to create a Recycling Coordinator position that would institutionalize the program failed and the committee dissolved soon afterwards.

"I tried for several years to meet with Dave and get him to commit the resources and to get the program institutionalized, but my attempts at getting him to do so have been fruitless," Barth said. 

E-mail correspondence between Barth, Irvin and others in 2001 outlined program goals that were discussed in a 2001 meeting, including the creation of a recycling czar position to oversee it. 

But that position was not created and recycling management and collection duties were spread between several departments until last year. 

In the meantime, some students said they noticed recycling containers being emptied into the trash causing rumors to begin circulating around the Quadrangle Residence Halls. The rumors took a toll on program morale. 

It is unclear exactly when reports of the infractions surfaced, but communication freshman Jacob Brissee said he saw a large paper recycling bin from Oberholtzer Hall emptied into a dumpster in August 2005.

"It was in the OB dumpster. They took the blue thing and just threw it in with all the food and everything where it smells really bad," Brissee said.

After hearing similar reports, English and creative writing junior Mark Mullee began taking his recyclables to an off-campus recycling center just to ensure that they were not being trashed.

"There is only one thing worse than not having recycling, and that's being told that you are recycling when in reality all the stuff in the blue box is being thrown out, which is what I think was happening to me last year," Mullee said, referring to the single, blue recycling bin located in Oberholtzer Hall.

Residence Halls Association Vice President Joel Kissell said he is aware of the reports and is taking steps to ensure that the residence halls have recycling when he is RHA president next year.

"I am actually in talks with operations to get something going for next year," Kissell said. "We are going to try and to make sure we implement it and involve everyone."

Supervisor of Solid Waste and Recycling Johnnie King, who became overseer of the program in late 2005, said he has been doing his best to fix all of the problems he is aware of within the recycling program with the limited staff he has.

"I think we've been getting a whole lot better than we were a year ago," King said.

As former committee chairman, Barth said if recyclables had been thrown into a dumpster, it would damage the integrity of the program.

"That would obviously have a really chilling effect on people participating in the program," Barth said. 

Irvin said the program has continued to do well since the Recycling and Conservation Committee dissolved, despite fluctuations in the market for recyclable goods.

He did not provide detailed records of the amount of recyclables collected and sold to market after to supplement the records kept by the committee until 2000, but estimated in an e-mail to The Daily Cougar about 35 tons were being gathered each month.

That is about 840,000 pounds a year, less than the programs peak of 962,559 pounds a year in 1995, despite an increase in the UH student body. 

But Irvin said he does not think it is fair to directly compare the numbers. 

"Comparing numbers between time frames is misleading because of several reasons," Irvin said in an e-mail March 30.

He cited a more compact system of packaging recyclables, an increase in University faculty, staff, students and community and a decline in overall market demand as factors in the drop in total pounds collected.

"Income had dropped because of dramatically reduced markets for recycled products," Irvin said in the e-mail. "By more aggressively managing the program this year we have raised the income generated on recycling paper and scrap metal from $8,000 last year to over $16,000 this year."
 

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