Collegiate Times

There is more involved in recycling on a college campus than blue bins in the residence halls and recycling bins placed throughout campus.

Virginia Tech provides multiple recycling services that many students and faculty members may not realize are available.

But even with a recent surge in attempts to keep unnecessary items away from the landfill, the university still has much work to do.

"There's been a remarkable increase in awareness in the last two years on campus, and it's been more than awareness -- it's been the desire to participate in something," said Larry Bechtel, Virginia Tech Recycling Coordinator and Solid Waste Manager.

Even though he noted that Tech has no program for collecting old CDs or tapes and a lot of toner cartridges that end up in the trashcan, he said, "we try to do the best that we can with the resources we have."

Ceiling tile from the Squires renovation project was recycled. A program called Y-Toss run by the YMCA collects items such as computers, shelving, and chairs from students who move out of their residence halls. Tech delivered used carpet to ReStore, a company in Christiansburg run by Habitat for Humanity that accepts construction materials. Tech's Health and Safety Office handles materials that are more difficult to recycle such as old computers and batteries, said Bechtel.

Surplus, a business that picks up extra items campus-wide and sells them back to Tech or the community, has existed for over 25 years and has grown much in that time. Manager Doug Sheppard said that any item, such as computers, tables, canoes, boats, and vehicles can be sold back through Surplus.

The company started off with only a couple auctions a year but has 10 planned for this year. Surplus currently generates $450,000 to $500,000 yearly. At every auction, 240 to 300 bidders get involved. Before they see the items being sold, Surplus shows all the campus departments what is available.

"It's an ongoing thing," Sheppard said. "Although one department may not have use for it, we can sell it to another department."

Each auction is fully stocked after the company picks up anywhere from 10 to 200 items a day from the campus. Out of all of those supplies, Sheppard said few ever go to waste.

"If we don't get a bid on it, we put it back in the next sale," Sheppard said, adding that nine times out of 10, someone in another crowd will buy the item. "We scrap very little to the landfill."

Robert Sebek, webmaster for Research and Instructional Services at Newman Library and a member of the Newman Green Team, said the libraries must give anything over a certain dollar value to Surplus, including old computers.

As for used books, Tech libraries usually donate them to other schools or prison libraries, and they've even mailed them to Africa in the past. If they're no longer of use to anyone, their pages will be ripped out and recycled. Steel shelving also is recycled after being replaced. In addition, the libraries are attempting to use bamboo flooring that is more renewable than other flooring types.

However, Sebek said that "carpet tends to just end up in the dumpster" and the libraries may not be "terribly consistent" with recycling ink cartridges, although they are often sent back to the company in order to receive a discount.

As for the University Bookstore, Assistant Director Steve Glosh said that they usually use recycling services set up by Tech. In addition to the tons of paper and plastic bags that are recycled daily, the bookstore also recycles aluminum fixtures and finds people who want old textbooks.

"We've been in the recycling mode for quite a while," Glosh said. "When recycling became something we could do, we were very much interested in doing that. I'm glad (recycling has) become almost a normal, day-to-day thing. It's just a good thing to recycle."

In 2007, Tech recycled 20,402 lbs of steel, 516,850 lbs of scrap metal, 3,500 lbs of fluorescent lamps, and 500 toner cartridges. Tires, waste wood, used oil, auto batteries, and kitchen byproducts were also recycled. Last year, the university reused 116,000 lbs of mattresses, 2,000 lbs of carpets, 17,000 lbs of furniture or appliances, and 12,000 lbs of chairs and sofas. All in all, the campus recycled 2,640,000 lbs of items, including paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum.

The next auction is May 3 at 9 a.m. at the usual location -- the K-Mart parking lot across from the Kroger on South Main Street.