March 28, 2016
16-95
Whitney N. Yarber, Communications Specialist
Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø, SAVE Encourage Reduction of Solid Waste
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| Pictured, from left to right, are Alexis Jackson, SAVE chapter member and a freshman environmental geosciences major from Savannah; Sarah N. Mensah, SAVE chapter president and a senior speech communications major from College Park; and Helena Krumbacher, SAVE chapter vice president and a freshman undeclared major from Oslo, Norway. |
VALDOSTA – Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø and Students Against Violating the Environment (SAVE) are encouraging the campus community to reduce, reuse, and recycle solid waste.
Founded in 1988, SAVE serves as a forum for environmental education, as well as a medium from which students can collectively voice and effectively incite social change by inspiring, educating, and promoting recycling and environmental sustainability on and off campus.
“My time as an intern at the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce has taught me that it is the responsibility of each of us to build, maintain, and advocate for a more environmentally friendly and sustainable society by recycling on and off campus,” said Sarah N. Mensah, SAVE chapter president and a senior speech communications major from College Park. “Recycling is important because doing so allows us to lower the amount of natural resources we use to make products by reusing those materials. It helps reduce the size of our landfills and allows us to protect animals and the environment by preventing habitat destruction and soil erosion associated with logging and mining.
“Students, faculty, and staff should recycle on and off campus for all of the above reasons but especially because we use more paper on campus than anything else,” she continued. “This includes worksheets, homework assignments, sticky notes, and those last minute essays. If one ton of recycled paper saves 12-17 mature trees, imagine how many we could have saved this semester. Imagine how many we could save during and after finals week alone.”
SAVE frequently partners with Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø Plant Operations to assist with the Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø Recycling Program.
“The Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø Recycling Program mainly consists of plastic bottles, aluminum cans, paper, and some cardboard,” said James Muzzey, assistant director for Campus Services. “Recycling containers are located in almost every building on Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø's campus, typically in hallways and lobbies. Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø Recycling utilizes the building custodians and student employees to gather the recycling from campus and deliver it to a location where the City of Valdosta collects the materials. Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø employs several part-time student employees to help manage the recycling.”
Muzzey said Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø and the City of Valdosta have been working cooperatively together for almost 10 years to provide recycling services to the students, faculty, and staff on campus.
Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø follows the same rules for collecting recycling that the City of Valdosta provides to its residents, including rinsing out containers and breaking down cardboard.
Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø received 40 Coke bottle-shaped recycling bins in 2015 from Keep America Beautiful and the Coca-Cola Foundation.
“The recycling team hopes the unique design of the containers will grab the attention of faculty, staff, students, and visitors and make it easier to recycle,” said Muzzey. “The containers are at the P.E. Complex and are used for many of the Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø events held outdoors on the front lawn.”
While Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø’s Physical Plant is responsible for organizing the logistics of the Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø Recycling Program, they believe an important ingredient is customer participation.
Through the active participation of students, student organizations, faculty, and staff, Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø can continue to foster a successful recycling program and educate constituents in the Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø community on how to make recycling an accepted, and expected, norm.
Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø to learn more about the steps Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¹ÙÍø is taking to reduce solid waste.
Contact James Muzzey at jmuzzey@valdosta.edu or (229) 333-5938 for more information.
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