Friday, July 25th, 2008

[Online Exclusive]: USAC implements new recycling program in De Neve

Since it seemed students would not go to the recycling bins, the undergraduate student government decided to bring the recycling bins to the students.

Starting spring quarter, these bins will be placed in every dorm room in De Neve’s Evergreen and Fir buildings to promote recycling among students.

A thousand trash-can-sized bins, funded by UCLA Housing Administration, will be ordered this week as a result of the USAC Facilities Commission’s efforts in the beginning of the school year.

This new recycling program was created in response to the failure of the current recycling situation, which consists of one recycling bin on each floor, said Angela Cheung, sustainability director of the Facilities Commission.

“A lot of people don’t even know their floor has a recycling bin,” Cheung said. “The goal of putting bins in the room is to make recycling more convenient for the residents.”

E-mails were sent out to all dorm-building associations fall quarter describing the program; Evergreen and Fir responded with the greatest enthusiasm.

Since then, the Undergraduate Students Association Council, On Campus Housing Council, and Evergreen and Fir Resident Director Dayna Baker have worked out the details of how the program would work.

Many residents are still unaware of this program; those who do know of it look forward to this new addition in the room.

“There are so many times when I felt it was too cumbersome to sort out the trash and the recyclable items and then walk all the way down the hall each time,” said Paul Smithedajkul, a first-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student.

Smithedajkul said he believes more people would recycle if they had the opportunity.

In addition to the extra recycling bins, floor recycling chair positions will be created and recycling contests and programs will be initiated to further encourage recycling.

The recyclable items will be collected twice a week, once by students and once by housekeeping.

Though the program will only apply to the two buildings, the Facilities Commission hopes to work with OCHC to extend the program to other dorms next year.

“This program is a trial to see how well this kind of recycling program will work,” OCHC representative Betty Yee said. “We’re expecting it to be very successful, so hopefully this program can spread across the Hill.”

The realization of this program is a major stepping stone in creating awareness on the Hill to the importance, as well as simplicity, of recycling, Cheung said.

“Recycling is one of the easiest things people can do to bring about change,” Cheung said.

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