February 16, 2012
As the College once again plans to participate in the national RecycleMania competition (as it has since 2005), the question of “Why recycle anyway?” comes to my mind. But before answering that question, some background.
Hamilton made the progressive and regionally unique decision to initiate its recycling program in 1989, through a strategic partnership with the Oneida Herkimer Solid Waste Authority (OHSWA) and their then new recycling program for the Mohawk Valley. According to Terry Hawkridge, the College’s Assistant Director of Physical Plant, Hamilton spent nearly $100,000 on equipment upgrades and personnel hires to facilitate recycling on our campus and has continued collaborating with OHSWA and Mr. David Lupinski for over 20 years. As evidence of this collaborative effort, Mr. Hawkridge and several Hamilton students were publicly recognized with the “Recycling Champions Award” by OHSWA in 2004.
For the more than 20 years Hamilton has recycled, Mr. Hawkridge has maintained extensive records regarding solid waste “sorts”—meaning the type and variety of solid waste the College generates and either disposes of (and pays for) as trash, or recycles for free. Hamilton’s recycling rate has steadily increased from the single digits in the early 90s, to nearly 20% in 2010. And now that Hamilton composts organic food scrap wastes from its dining facilities, 45 percent of the solid wastes generated by the College in 2011 were diverted from the Ava landfill in Boonville through combined recycling and composting efforts.
While Physical Plant custodians and grounds shop personnel perform the daily routine of physically collecting, sorting, and transporting Hamilton’s solid waste stream on and off campus, a small but incredibly influential group of students comprising the Recycling Task Force (RTF) have been the steady stewards that encourage, promote, and inspire our student population to recycle each and every day. Recently, a group of students and College employees visited OHSWA and its $10 million upgraded recycling facility that now enables solid waste generators to comingle their recyclables under the “One And Done” banner, thereby further simplifying recycling for all in our community.
In April of 2007, President Stewart and Hamilton College became a charter signatory to the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, thereby instigating a formal sustainability initiative on campus, with the goal being a greener and eventual carbon-neutral academic institution. In the time since, countless projects have been undertaken within and outside of the classroom, intent on both minimizing Hamilton’s carbon footprint and influencing the lives of students once they leave the Hill. Now that the College’s green goals aspire far beyond that which was originally envisioned in 1989, one of the questions facing us today is “why recycle anyway?” Put another way, as recycling metrics now seem less important to our larger sustainability endeavors, why should we continue to care about our recycling rates, if at all?
I would submit to our community that an institution’s recycling (or landfill diversion) rate can be thought of in terms of automotive fuel efficiency ratings (mpg). Both are easily understood baseline environmental metrics, which cannot be discounted against other more shiny features. Take a trip to the OHSWA recycling facility yourselves, and you will see front end loaders scraping cubic yards worth of cardboard, plastic and glass into hoppers for processing, with the filth of major industrial operation on each recyclable item’s exterior. And think again about whether the donut dust on your plastic plate or a pepperoni slice in your pizza box is sufficient enough to warrant you choosing not to recycle the item.
Hamilton’s recycling history is longer and more storied than any other regional peer, thanks to our partnership with OHSWA and the tireless efforts of the Physical Plant, RTF and various members of our community. But recycling is something we (not they) do, and our community must strive for continuous improvement. Recycling may not have the appeal of a windmill in the grand sustainability scheme of things, but it represents our collective priorities at the individual level—whether it be an office cubicle, lab, studio or dorm room. “Automotively” speaking, as a community we need to be the 50 mpg EV, not the 13 mpg Hummer.