By Tarah Jeannis , Stuff Writter
Over the past two years Saint Leo University has made great efforts to have the student body involved in recycling. Recycling bins are provided in the Library and in the Learning Resource Center and classrooms where students use paper the most. Saint Leo also provides students an opportunity to recycle soda cans with their dual waste baskets with one section for recycling and the other for waste materials. In addition to the students being encouraged to recycle, professors are also provided with recycling bins in their offices.
Even though one may see the efforts being made to recycle on campus, what exactly happens to the materials thrown in the recycling bin and baskets? Saint Leo has hired students who are responsible for making sure that the recycling process goes orderly.
“We are a single stream recycler. This means we do not have to separate cans from paper from plastic from cardboard. But we cannot contaminate with food waste such as pizza boxes, wrappers, used paper plates, etc” discuses Mrs. Linda Pead, Coordinator of Plant Operation at Saint Leo.
The material collected from these bins is deposited into containers either at the “Chiller Plant” or Parking Lot 4 locations. These workers devote about two hours a week which allows the recycling on campus to be maintained. Pickups are arranged via the INSITE work ticket system; the materials are picked up by Waste Management and taken to the Land O’ Lakes Recycling Center. After all of the materials are taken, the containers are brought back to the Saint Leo campus to be reused. When the entire process is completed Waste Management reports to Saint Leo the weight in tons that was taken to Land O’ Lakes.
How do Saint Leo and the student body benefit from recycling?
“We are visibly representing our core values of responsible stewardship, community & respect with our concern for the environment by recycling and not adding to waste disposal within the county” says Pead.
Saint Leo does not financially benefit from recycling; Saint Leo actually pays to have its materials picked up. In the event that a single thread a non-similar item is found in a container the entire container is thrown away, explains Frank Mezzanini, Chief Financial Officer at Saint Leo University.
“Of course, if we can reuse any material it helps our environment and supports part of our mission to care for all of God’s creations” says Mezzanini.
By recycling Saint Leo promotes its core values not only to the student body but also its surrounding community.
