POSTED: Tuesday, Feb. 02, 2010

WWU trash audit finds lots of missed recycling, composting

BELLINGHAM - How much of what ends up in waste bins at Western Washington University's dorms is actually garbage?

That's what some environmentally minded students are trying to answer.

On Tuesday, Feb. 2, members of the Huxley chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association gathered data on waste disposal in three residence halls: Mathis, Nash and Edens. They didn't go around and ask students about their habits; instead, they sorted through bags and piles of trash to see first-hand what ends up in the bins.

"What we've found is roughly 70 to 90 percent of it is not trash," said Nick Galvin, co-president of the club, "it can be composted or recycled."

A similar audit was done last year on the outdoor bins around campus, as well as the bins in the Academic Instructional Center, Arntzen Hall and the Environmental Studies building. Of the roughly 580 gallons of waste collected, only about 15 percent was garbage.

And this year's audit was showing similar results. Students spent the day sorting waste into 12 buckets, ranging from plastic to paper to compost to garbage. Of the 12, only two were for garbage.

One of the biggest areas of waste discovered was paper towels from dorm bathrooms that can be recycled. By 11 a.m., the students had already filled two 60-gallon garbage toters with paper towels, and there was still trash from two more dorms to sort. Not even one toter had been filled with garbage by that time.

"Everywhere there's a trash can, why don't we put a recycling bin and a compost bin?" Galvin said, adding that having three bins would allow all of them to be fairly small. "If it's not a hassle, I think it will very much improve the ability and amount of recycling and composting."

The university has a recycling center on campus, but garbage and compost removal are handled by Sanitary Services Company. SSC owner Paul Razore donated 16 garbage toters and waste removal for the audit.

WWU has been working with SSC for the last few years to reduce waste, and the Food-Plus recycling program is used in the dining halls and the Birnam Wood apartments, said Rodd Pemble, recycling manager for SSC. But expanding the program to the dorms would further decrease the amount of garbage, Pemble said, especially for items like pizza boxes.

"Our goal is to help Western be as sustainable as they can," said Pemble, who was helping students sort trash. "Which means people have to understand what they're throwing away."