The Warren Towers recycling competition has reached the home stretch, but with only a week to go, the brainchild of four College of Communication seniors has already succeeding in its goal of increasing recycling at Boston University.
The students — Sam Nocella, Sandi Genna, Mat Papunen and Delilah Rettagliata — started the contest between the three towers in Public Relations Lab, a class requiring students to work on a PR campaign for a non-profit organization.
“We realized that students need something else besides just a mention of something, so we decided to do something fun,” Genna said.
Recycling amounts have jumped in all three towers since the contest began, including the installation of all five types of recycling bins in the dormitory. A Tower went from a weekly amount of 425 lbs. of recycling before the contest to 625 lbs. as of the end of last week. B Tower, which already had all five bins, increased from 825 lbs. to 1,000 lbs., and C Tower doubled their recycling amount, going from 300 lbs. to 600 lbs.
The five types of bins are general paper, newspaper, glass, plastic and aluminum.
“We’re very impressed,” Genna said. “We didn’t think Warren would respond as well as they did.”
The Office of Environmental Health and Safety chose to start a push for recycling at Warren because it’s the largest dorm, housing approximately 1,650 students. Residents of Warren generate 3.5 million pounds of waste each year, according to counts from Capital Paper, the vendor which track of BU recycling.
The contest is one of various attempts this school year by BU staff and students to make the campus more recycling-friendly. EHS and the Office of Residence Life hired two work-study students as recycling coordinators, and the Environmental Students Organization has been negotiating with administrators throughout the year as well.
“The first step is awareness,” said ESO President Robyn Kenney, a College of Arts and Sciences senior.
Kenney and other ESO members want to put recycling bins outside next to trash barrels and in academic buildings, as well as place signs on dormitory trash cans letting students know where they can recycle in their building. COM already has one newspaper recycling bin and the School of Management has bins for mixed paper.
Mira Stanchak, a CAS sophomore and one of the recycling coordinators said the unavailability of the recycling bins discourages students from using them, but they’re not totally ignored.
“I’ve definitely seen a lot of improvement in the past year from students, the administration and even the city,” Stanchak said at yesterday’s Earth Day celebration where City Councilor Mike Ross (Fenway, Back Bay) expressed enthusiasm for students’ recycling initiatives.
EHS manager Pam Flattich, who has worked with the students on the Warren recycling contest, said the students’ public relations campaign has worked well.
“I think that the students are the best asset here and we should capitalize on that in a hands-on environment,” Flattich said, pointing out that it’s useful for both students education and the University for students to improve their school.
B Tower was in the lead of the recycling contest yesterday afternoon. The winning tower will be treated to a party by EHS.
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