Recycling program works to make a difference

By Jeani Martin

For almost 15 years MHCC has been dedicated to the process of the four Rs, reduce, reuse, repair and recycle.

As of 10 years ago, recycling on campus focused almost entirely on paper.

Then a former instructor, Elizabeth Miles, got involved to help make the changes to the recycling program. She got the grants needed to fund the Blue Bins Project. They had to rely on staff, faculty and volunteers to get the work done.

Now recycling has been handed over to the Custodial Department and it comes out of their budget. They have put together a team of hired hands and volunteers to keep their team organized and updated.

The Green Team’s mission statement is “Stimulate environment awareness in our workplace, homes and community through cooperative sharing of ideas from college administration, faculty, staff, and students.”

Green Teams coordinator Samantha Daubenspeck has helped to set goals to improve recycling on campus. One is to complete requirements for achieving and maintaining G.R.E.A.T Business status, which stands for G=Gresham, R=Resources, E=Efficiency, A=Assistance, T=To business. They show the Green Team what they’re doing right, how they might improve and what’s new in the recycling world.

The Green Team has spent a long time trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. They know they have to increace awareness on campus to let others know how simple it is to recycle.

Eric Manarang, recycling coordinator, has helped with placement and care of the blue bins seen all over campus. With a trailer in tow, Manarang picks up the blue bins of paper and other recyclable materials, and sorts through them.

The Green Team recycles many regular items, like paper, glass, and aluminum/tin cans. They also recycle some not so conventional items, like used motor oil, which is then refined to be used again, Styrofoam, overhead transparencies, florescent lights, cell phones and computer components.

MHCC does its own recycling of freon, to reuse again in their refridges and chillers. They also do battery recycling for faculty and staff.

The college averages about seven tons of paper monthly. They have one six-yard container of cardboard picked up twice a week. Twenty-eight 65 gallon co-mingled containers of plastic, cans, et cetera are picked up weekly. Three 35-gallon carts for glass are also picked up weekly.

According to Metro, 2003 internal report, recycling in the Portland metro region reduced overall air emissions of chemicals such as sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and particulate by 18,000 tons and reduced the amount of waterborne waste by 3,000 tons.

If students are interested in getting involved, the Green Team is in need of volunteers and have work-study available. They can be reached at #[email protected].