Malley Starts New Program to Recycle Items
By Rachel Davidson
Malley officially unveiled a series of blue bins on Feb. 22 that will revamp the way visitors of the center treat their trash. They teamed up with TerraCycle - an "upcycling" company that collects different types of waste for free and manufactures them into other items and prizes.
Malley is signed up for two recycling brigades: pairs of old shoes and energy bar wrappers that can be refurnished into backpacks and wallets because of the strength of their foil.
The phrase ZeroWaste made Director of Recreation Janice DeMonsi skeptical, who was previously misquoted saying that Malley's goal was to reach this within the next decade.
In fact, it was this misquote that prompted a conversation between DeMonsi and the Office of Sustainability, who said that this was actually achievable.
ZeroWaste means reaching a 95 percent waste diversion rate from the landfill into recycling and composting, according to Mimi Sanicola, the waste diversion intern for the Office of Sustainability.
"Malley has so many unique users," said DeMonsi. "We've got alumni, faculty, staff and visitors that may not be aware that the rest of campus is sustainable. We have a community we can tap into that other places on campus can't."
This includes an average of 1,400 facility users per day, between Monday and Thursday.
DeMonsi also said that for most students who move off campus their last two years of college, the sole building that they will typically visit the most is Malley.
DeMonsi said that the center eventually hopes to be a part of the multi-strand brigade that would eliminate all chip bags, candy bar wrappers and other materials that currently go straight into the landfill.
The four other new blue bins in Malley's lobby collect various recycling items and e-waste, including old CDs, ink cartridges and batteries. Previously, Malley had piloted programs that composted all of their paper towels acquired both in the weight rooms and multi-facility rooms.
It all began last summer when DeMonsi and senior Brian Kirby, who is a facility coordinator for Malley, did a waste characterization of a week's worth of the trash collected in Malley bins. Both DeMonsi and Kirby described the experience as "interesting," "ridiculous" and "gross."
Two months later, the school's Joy of Garbage class did a full waste characterization that determined 56 percent of Malley's trash could have been recycled or composted.
The items they found in the trash cans should have gone into other bins, so the center moved forward with a plan that targeted the direct cause - they moved all of their waste bins to the lobby.
Above each, at eye level, are new waste signs that describe what type of junk goes where.
Kirby said that he's sure that other students toss their electronic waste when they're not sure what else to do with it. He said that the new blue bins at Malley "gives people a place to put their stuff," including his housemates, who he has been able to educate on recycling.
Sanicola said that DeMonsi has been "instrumental in helping us further Zero Waste goals across campus," especially in encouraging the ideals of the Office of Sustainability.
Contact Rachel Davidson at rldavidson@scu.edu.