Office of Internal Communications
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April 21, 2005 EARTH DAY’S AN EVERYDAY
EVENT On Friday, April 22, the world will celebrate the 35th annual Earth Day promoting environmental awareness, but the University of Houston isn’t waiting until then to help the planet. Thanks to its recycling services, UH has already been doing its part to make sure that every day is Earth Day on campus. Although a recycling program was already in place, it was maintained only by two staff members from two different departments within Plant Operations. A few months ago, however, the program was repositioned squarely within the solid waste department. Since then, there’s been a concerted effort to expand recycling services. Although the program collected 246 tons of recyclable materials in 2004, Pat Sanchez, interim director of building maintenance, feels that there could be a stronger recycling effort. “For years, I’ve been wanting to increase recycling on campus,” he said. “There has always been a need for this service, but little attention was placed on increasing its volume.” Under his direction, that’s changing. Every week, a recycling truck visits 98 sites on campus and empties 220 bins of recyclables filled with paper, aluminum cans, cardboard and scrap metal (which includes discarded office furniture). Even old car batteries from university vehicles are picked up on request, Sanchez said. All these materials are then returned to the General Services building for temporary storage and are picked up later by a recycling company, Vista Fiber. Sanchez added that future recycling goals at UH include adding plastic to the list of items that are picked up and continuing to increase the volume of aluminum cans and paper. “Another goal is to increase the campus’ overall awareness of recycling,” Sanchez said. “There is definitely a need for this service, but we have to let our community members know that they don’t have to just throw away their paper or cans. They can seek out a recycling receptacle and, by supporting our UH program, they are supporting the whole environment.” Mike Emery |