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New and Future Recycling Initiatives

Post-Consumer Food Collection

What began as a ten week experiment in 1997 to turn food scraps into compost is now a large scale operation at the Organic Materials Processing and Education Center on the northern boundary of the University Park campus. There, pre-consumer food waste and dirty paper napkins from the seven dining halls, three hospitality centers, and a day care center are combined with some of the animal research manure and collected leaves to produce compost for our campus plants. Not only does this project save over 1.6 tons of waste daily from the landfill, avoiding over $16,000 in costs annually, but it closes the waste loop, turning waste into free compost used to enrich the campus's flower beds, planters, and turf. The Center processes the waste, as well as operates as a learning center, offering opportunities for students and researchers to learn about source separating, waste management and backyard composting. Future expansion plans include collecting plate scraps from the 70,000 weekly dining hall meals.

Recycling at Spikes Baseball

One of OPP's newest initiatives is the introduction of public service announcements about recycling at Spikes baseball games. The stadium management is already encouraging fans to recycle their plastic bottles. At each game, stadium crews cruise the aisles with blue recycling collection bags, encouraging the people to recycle their drink containers. By next season, OPP hopes to organize a "Recycling Event" at one of the games.

Compactor Installation at University Park

Over the past year, the Physical Plant has installed 7 compactors across campus to consolidate solid waste collection sites and improve the aesthetics of these areas. Each compactor replaces the need for 12 dumpsters, turning 100 cubic yards of waste into 20. Over the next year, three additional units will be installed, bringing the total number of compactors to 10.

Construction & Demolition Reuse and Recycling

Coordinating their efforts with OPP's Salvage and Surplus Center, Penn State's Solid Waste Management team is improving its process for collecting usable waste from construction and renovation projects. The collected items are sold through Salvage and Surplus. It is hoped that in the future, these materials will be marketed through Salvage and Surplus's E-Buy site.

Ergonomically Safe Recycling Bins

OPP is replacing all recycling bins on campus with ergonomically friendly ones that are 32” high. Lowering the height, reduces vertical lifts and saves the backs of our janitorial staff.

Green Tours

During Energy Expo 2006, sponsored by Penn State, OPP partnered with the University's Center for Sustainability to offer tours showing Penn States environmental initiatives. Participants learned about ways in which the University's academic and operational programs have applied environmental sustainable practices to our programs and facilities. The one hour tour included visits to the following:

Plans are being made to hold tours on a more frequent basis.

 

Revised August 2007