These days, Ohio University's recycling program operates by more than the crunch of soda cans and the dismantling of corrugated cardboard pizza boxes -it operates on the premise that providing recycling services to the OU community is a means to promote recycling throughout Athens.
A familiar dilemma has caused the university to steer some of its service goals to a growing need to increase awareness of proper recycling.
We try to take a holistic approach to (the issue of recycling)
said OU Refuse and Recycling Manager Ed Newman. How else are you going to get buy-in from people?
At issue is the prohibited use of university recycling and refuse facilities by off-campus students and residents. Newman, a former Athens City-County Health Department worker who enforced illegal-dumping regulations, hints to the fine line between denying recycling services to some and perpetuating a resultant community-wide problem.
He said he knows from his health department days that refuse can end up along country roads, in backwoods gullies and in other place, and that detracts from the physical aesthetics of the area.
We don't want to be the bad guy in this stuff but sometimes we have to take that role to keep this from getting out of control said Newman. While the university does not encourage off-campus recyclables in its bins, it recognizes that some individuals who live in apartment complexes or other facilities without recycling services are simply trying to do the right thing.
After walking across the Front Four parking lot from his Riverpark Towers apartment to recycle, OU student David Bullock said he was informed by a patrolling OU police officer that complaints had been received about off-campus recyclables in university bins.
Newman and his crew are not helpless in combating this issue. Along with monitoring dumpsters, a little smelly detective work can go a long way, and dumpings by off-campus individuals often are traced back to the violator. Minor violations can be treated with a notice or a bill from the university stating that garbage was found to be dumped illegally in university dumpsters.
In other cases, OU police have contacted violators and given them the option of removing the trash and properly disposing of it elsewhere. OU Police Department Lieutenant Richard Russell said that repeat and significant offenders can be charged with a minor misdemeanor and can face restitution charges in the amount equaling the cost of emptying of the dumpster. Russell said the significant dumpings that fill a trash bin are the primary events that draw attention.
The issue of off-campus use of OU recycling and refuse facilities -described by Newman as only a minor problem -has pushed the university toward assisting with a city-wide solution.
On one hand
we're trying to address on-campus recycling issues
but we're trying to deal with it in a bigger way as well
said Newman.
Newman said he is working with the university, apartment complexes and landlords to determine ways in which people can become better educated about how and where to recycle materials and dump refuse properly. Collectively referred to as CLEAN -Clean Litter Everywhere in Athens Now -the group hopes to influence a city-wide increase in recycling and to establish a better and more fair means of enforcing the university's waste service regulations.
A complete listing of recyclable materials accepted by off-and on-campus recycling services and other helpful information can be found on the OU Facilities Management Recycling and Refuse Web site: http://www.facilities.ohiou.edu/recycle/recycling_campus.htm.
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