Recycling a priority at CMU

CMU students are doing their part to clean up campus through recycling.

Carey Paquette-Schalm, environmental education specialist for the
Isabella County Recycling Center, 4208 E. River Road, said recycling is
more than just an environmental issue.

It’s an economic one, too, she said.

“One hundred jobs are created with recycling versus 13 jobs created
with solid waste,” Paquette-Schalm said.

CMU recycles 30 tons of waste a month.

Mount Pleasant sophomore Jennifer Thelen, who is the recycling
coordinator in Larzelere Hall, said she takes out quite a bit of
recycling from her students.

“We have eight averaged-size garbage cans,” she said. “They’re full
and overflowing every week.”

Thelen said it’s necessary and important for college students to
recycle because of their lifestyle.

“We have more disposable things,” she said. “It’s a good habit to
get into.”

Bad Axe junior Elise Waun, Trout Hall’s recycling coordinator, also
said she takes out a lot of recycling. She said the hall has bins on
the kitchenettes of every floor.

“They’re pretty much always full,” Waun said. “A lot of people
recycle.”

Paquette-Schalm said getting people to recycle might not be easy at
first.

“Once people understand the importance and whole picture of it,
they’re all for it,” she said. “There are a lot of students who are
into recycling that just don’t know it.”

Each student generates an average of 4.4 pounds of waste per day,
Paquette-Schalm said.

She also said programs started at places like CMU have helped
increase recycling tremendously.

“We did over 6,000 tons in the past year,” she said.

CMU faculty and staff can recycle by getting desk-side bins through
university stores. The bins are then emptied in the Rack n’ Roll
containers located throughout academic buildings.

Off-campus students can participate in curbside recycling, offered
through the Public Works Office, 1303 N. Franklin St. They also can
drop off their recycling to the county recycling center free of charge
Monday through Thursday.

Recycling programs are in the works for many off-campus apartment
complexes, but getting the initial funding for a start-up is tough,
said Paquette-Schalm.

For a complete list of recyclables, visit CMU’s recycling Web site
at http://fmgt.cmich.edu/recycling/.