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Waste reduction is the key to a successful college recycling effort. There are many ways that this can be accomplished and in some areas, actual savings can be demonstrated. It is important to look at ways to reduce campus waste as a mechanism to save money, extend the life of resources and reduce the costs and impact of overall waste management. Reuse Exchanges When possible, creating reuse exchanges can be a successful venture. Some colleges have reusable office supply exchanges and surplus furniture exchanges. Other colleges, with available space, have turned trash into gold while keeping valuable items out of the landfill. These schools have created reuse stores or have auctions. These are sometimes operated through a college recycling program but often involve property management. These reuse stores can generate a healthy income for the college, while the exchanges can save colleges money. Reusable Office Supply Exchanges Reusable office supply exchanges can be set-up on a small scale in department offices. This can be a small area such as a closet or set of shelves where people can leave items they don’t need anymore and take what they need. This can also be done as a campus wide exchange through finding a suitable closet or room that can accommodate a large amount of material. These exchanges work well unattended and are available to faulty, staff, administration, student groups and graduate students. In state funded institutions, the materials are considered state property and are not available to the general student population. Find a place to have a reusable office supply exchange on campus. Let folks know about it. Gather materials from departments or have departments drop off materials in the room. Get the room organized and materials shelved as to make easy pickings. Then when you have a good amount of materials, have an open house. This can be done in conjunction with Earth day, America Recycles Day, Recycling Awareness week or whatever event you plan. This is also a great opportunity for media attention. The reusable office supply exchange can be operated with minimal labor. Set up the room or area so that people can check out a key or staff it once or twice a week. Some schools set this up so that it is the department responsibility to get the materials to the room. With a key check out, this can be done anytime during the week. Let the campus moving crew know about this as when they are doing move-outs, the department can gather up office supplies to put in the room and it is paid for as part of the move. Believe it or not, this works well and people do still drop items off even if your department does not offer a pick-up service. Have this operated by student help. It is best to have an area for items coming into the room. Have a student worker shelf the items. Additionally, keep a notebook with an inventory check-out sheet where people can record the items they take. The student can look in the office supplies catalog for the college and record the prices for purchasing new items, which in effective is the savings from reuse. Keep this documented and include in your recycling program tracking as a savings to the college. Just from file folders, staplers, notebooks, etc...this can amount to over $10,000 in savings annually. All colleges have policies on property management. If the room needs "reducing", check with the property management department to see where to take extra materials. Some schools can donate items and others have to go through state surplus. Overstock items may be donated to students on campus. Some colleges also take an extra step and post available materials from the exchange, on-line. It is difficult to keep the list current and it still works without doing this. Office supplies are expensive and there is plenty to go around. Setting up a reusable office supply exchange is a good strategy for waste reduction on a college campus, which will save departments money and reduce usable materials entering the waste stream. Reusable Furniture Exchanges Office furnishings are big ticket items that are continually being purged from a college setting. Offices get remodeled and moved or even eliminated. All of these places have valuable office furnishings that can be utilized by others on campus. On a smaller scale, some colleges create an area (typically a warehouse setting) where usable furniture, in good condition, is collected. Broken or non-usable items can be recycled or may have to be landfilled. Remember these items can be costly to dispose. Schools without the capacity for creating an exchange find themselves shipping items to a state property management facility, typically far enough away that there is a cost involved. Gleaning usable items on campus is a smart practice to reduce waste management costs. Once again, this area can be operated at a minimal cost. Have the area staffed 3 times/week with at least one time during a lunch hour, another time in the AM and the third time in the PM. This will provide a good variety of times to meet everyone’s needs. The staff person can make sure that only usable items are available, things are organized, things are delivered and reusable items can be recorded. Additionally, the staff person can find replacement costs from doing research on local costs of middle of the road types of items as to provide a reasonable cost savings figure. Also, it is possible to estimate the weight of each item and demonstrate weight and dump savings along with other tracking.
Tags can be available to put on claimed items which indicate: item, department, contact, method of pick-up. It is best to work this out such that only the official facilities moving crew can pick-up and deliver the items to the departments. There are liabilities and concerns with having individuals picking up items. This program can save a college thousands of dollars and especially benefits poorer departments. Items in a reusable surplus furniture exchange can be: chairs, desks, bookcases, dividers, bulletin boards, conference tables. There are a lot of great finds for furnishing offices from a college furniture reuse exchange. Some schools are lucky to have large amounts of space, most favorably warehouse space, available to property management. Setting up a public re-use store or auction is a full-time job but can make the college a healthy income, while reducing the impact on the waste stream. Some schools are also selling items on e-bay, which has proven to be lucrative as well. Other Campus Waste Reduction Opportunities There are endless ways that colleges can reduce waste. This also can save resources, money and landfill space. Here’s a list of just some of the possibilities:
Food Service Areas
Facilities Custodial
Campus and Grounds
Trades
Motor pools
General
There are endless opportunities for waste reduction and reuse on a college campus. This practice can save money, staff time and valuable resources. An added bonus is that this practice will enhance campus recycling efforts and demonstrate waste stream reduction. Resources Choose2Reuse Dump & Run DormOutfitter.com INFORM, Inc. King County Washington Solid Waste Division LabX.com Massachusetts Materials Exchange MAT_EX ONLINE MUSC ROSE Northwest Materials Exchange Oregon Commercial Waste Reduction Information Clearinghouse Oregon State University Surplus Property ReDO Reducing junk mail R.O.S.E. (Reusable Office Supply Exchange) SCRAP (Scroungers' Center for Re_Usable Art Parts) Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission The Recycler's Exchange The Stuff Exchange The Surplus Exchange UO ROSE UNC Reuse Ideas University of Wisconsin_Madison's Surplus With A Purpose program (SWAP) http://www.bussvc.wisc.edu/swap/swap.html UofM Exchnage Files UVM OSCAR UVA ROSE |
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