ALFRED, NY – A recent article in the Fiat Lux student newspaper revealed some common misconceptions about the recycling efforts at Alfred University. The University wishes to clear up any confusion, while promoting how students can make the recycling program on campus most effective.
The story in the Sept. 27 issue of the Fiat Lux, titled “What Happens in Alfred Doesn’t Stay in Alfred,” contends that regular trash and recyclables are being disposed of together in the same truck, leading some students to believe all types of waste—recyclable and non-recyclable—are winding up in a landfill.
This simply isn’t true, according to Kevin LaForge, whose company, LaForge Disposal Service, Inc., contracts with the University to provide waste disposal services. LaForge is a 1979 Alfred University alumnus, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He explains that in various locations on campus, including outside residence halls, there are two types of dumpsters used for garbage collection: red for regular trash, green for recyclable materials.
While the same truck is used to collect and haul away recyclables and non-recyclables, they are collected on different days. Thus, the two types of waste are never disposed of in the same truck simultaneously.
LaForge said recyclables are collected once a week, and taken to a transfer station in nearby Wellsville, where LaForge Disposal Service is headquartered. As soon as enough recyclables are collected for a tractor-trailer load, it is taken to one of two recycling centers in Buffalo. One, Buffalo Recycling Enterprises, Inc., is managed by Alfred University alumna Fenna Mandalong ’04 (Bachelor of Arts, Fine Arts).
When LaForge took over the waste disposal contract from Casella in July, LaForge continued the “co-mingled” method of recycling. This means that all types of recyclable waste—cardboard and paper, glass, metal, and plastic— are collected in the same dumpster, hauled to the recycling center, and sorted there. Key to effective recycling is that regular waste must remain separated, to avoid contaminating the recyclables.
The overall effectiveness of recycling on the Alfred campus suffers from a common problem: insufficient care being taken to use appropriate dumpsters. More specifically, LaForge says there is a problem with non-recyclable waste being placed in the green dumpsters reserved for recyclables. As a result, recyclable waste brought to recycling centers is often rejected there due to being contaminated with regular trash. At that point, there is no choice but to take the contaminated recyclable waste to a landfill.
“Loads are getting rejected (at the recycling centers). It happens all the time. We can’t keep going the way we’re going now,” LaForge said. He noted that waste haulers pay $75 per ton to dispose of recyclable waste at recycling centers. The cost of taking that same waste to a landfill, once rejected by the recycling center, increases to $90 per ton.
Richard Walker, grounds supervisor at Alfred University, said he often sees regular trash and recyclable materials getting mixed together, and that it’s a matter of people putting the materials in the wrong containers.
“On any given day you can investigate the dumpsters and find trash in the recycle bin and recyclable material in the trash bin,” Walker commented. “I have been on this campus for quite a while and this subject comes up all the time. It is the responsibility of the individual to separate trash from recyclable material and to put it into the proper container. One or two bags of garbage in a recycle container may contaminate the whole container.
LaForge said he and Mandalong, as Alfred University alumni, have “vested interests” in seeing the recycling program succeed on campus, but pointed out it will take some “buy-in from students” for that to happen. He said it is important that students be educated on the proper manner for disposing of garbage, which may be as simple as placing items in the appropriate dumpster.
Another issue that represents a potential public health hazard is that trash is often discarded on the ground around the dumpsters. Alfred University Physical Plant workers face the daily chore of picking up this waste, as do LaForge workers, in order to avoid attracting pests.
Walker said members of his staff spend about 10 man hours per day cleaning up around campus; a good portion of that involves picking trash up around the dumpsters. Students leave full garbage bags on top of and around dumpsters, which become targets of raccoons, skunks and crows. “This morning I spent twenty minutes picking up trash around the dumpsters at Kruson, mainly because some animal had gotten into a couple of bags and scattered the trash all over the place,” he said.
LaForge said he is willing to participate in any type of training program that will boost students’ awareness of their responsibilities for proper and effective recycling. This may include meeting with residence life personnel, or participating in a Zoom discussion with students.
