“Throw it away. That’s the easy answer.”
That’s just the kind of response Andrew Lentini, UGA’s first recycling coordinator, is trying to avoid.
“Most people who work in an office building know that there are black roll carts for recycling paper,” Lentini said. “Whether they use them or not is something different. But everybody knows that they could do it.”
And he’s thankful for those people who make the effort.
“You do it because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “We’ve got so much scrap paper here-tons. If we threw it all away, it would be ridiculous.”
In fact, last year UGA produced 8,258 tons of trash, so it’s no surprise Lentini is working towards waste reduction.
From starting a recycler’s listserv to creating a waste reduction master plan for campus, Lentini is trying to get the message out that UGA recycles. In 2007, UGA recycled 28 percent of its waste or 2,294 tons-equivalent to 105 pounds per person on campus. Last month’s recycling was at 36 percent.
In August the UGA Recycling Program won the Outstanding Institution or Recycling Program Award from the Georgia Recycling Coalition for its efforts in recycling everything from plastic bottles to old computer parts.
The program began in the 1980s with leaf and limb composting, and then in 1989 grew to include paper recycling. Now campus recycling also includes automobile antifreeze, tires and motor oil. Unwanted electronics go to surplus, where they are sold at an online auction. UGA also recycles cooking oil, pallets, scrap metal and batteries. The recycling program has even expanded to include programs for cell phones and ink jet cartridges.
But, Lentini said that it’s only the beginning, and that he wants to grow the program from where it is now.
He’s aiming to make it easier to “do the right thing” and recycle, by providing lots more bins around campus. He’s increased the amount of recycle bins on campus, and introduced bottle and can recycling bins in 380 buildings on campus-his long-term goal is to have the bins in all 600 campus buildings.
He wants the UGA community to think about planning in advance, so that materials don’t have to go into the landfill later.
For example, departments that want to hold a campus function could use recyclable paper cups rather than plastic ones.
Lentini came to UGA from Athens-Clarke County’s recycling division, where he did graphic design, Web design and outreach. He did a lot of work with local elementary schools teaching students about recycling and giving tours of the recycling plant.
Part of the draw of coming to UGA, he said, was working with college students and not having to target his message for elementary school-aged minds.
“They realize the ramifications more,” he said of college students. “It’s easy to say recycling is good for the earth. It’s harder to figure out that recycling brings jobs and it’s less of a toll on natural resources and that landfills are filling up.”
So he’s worked with the campus Go Green Alliance and helped enter UGA in Recyclemania, where the college placed third nationally for collecting the most recyclables.
When he’s not entering recycling contests he might be attending meetings about suitability, finding homes for no longer needed campus chairs or poking around in recycling bins to make sure they don’t become garbage bins.
He’s helped recycle everything from corks to worm experiments, but what’s surprised him most is people’s attitudes.
“I’m surprised at how receptive everybody is,” he said. “It’s the easiest sell in the world to say that recycling is good. Nobody’s going to say that it isn’t.”
FACTS
Andrew Lentini
Recycling Coordinator
Physical Plant
Bachelor’s degree: Art education,
Armstrong Atlantic State University, 1995
Master’s degree: Recreation and leisure studies with a certificate in nonprofit organizations, UGA, 2003
At UGA: since April 1
