By JOHN GAMBEE
gambee@newsroom.byu.edu
In early March, BYU's recycling program was blasted in the letters to the editor section of the Daily Universe for 'hypocrisy.'
Mary Cox, 18, a freshman from Poipu, Hawaii, with an undecided major, wrote that the recycling arrows on the bins for glass in the Cougareat 'had been deceiving the campus community.'
Cox also wrote that BYU did not recycle the glass and that the glass was thrown away with the normal trash. Therefore, the recycling symbol, made up of three arrows in a circle, should not be on the bins.
'They should be recycling if they can,' Cox said. 'And, they shouldn't say they are doing something they are not.'
She was right, in part.
BYU Recycling program is part of BYU's Conservation plan and is directed by BYU's Dining Services and the Grounds Maintenance division of BYU's Physical Facilities Department.
The effort monitors 2500 collection bins across campus and processes over 4.5 tons of fiber daily, according to an informational video 'Conservation at BYU,' available through BYU Ground Maintenance Department.
The self-sustaining program contributes thousands to the University budget annually and has decreased BYU's use of landfills by nearly 60 percent since its inception in the early 90's, said Roy Petterman, director of grounds maintenance at BYU.
Efforts have been made for over 10 years to find a feasible way to recycle glass, said Dean Wright, director of BYU's Dining Services.
However, currently the glass is not sent on for further processing, Wright said.
'It is very costly for BYU to recycle glass,' Wright said.
Because of extensive use of landfills in Utah, there are no glass recycling organizations in Utah, Wright said. BYU would have to ship the glass out of state to recycle it.
However, Wright says the bins do serve a purpose. Because the other collected materials, cardboard, food scraps and paper, are recycled into pulp and fertilizer for other uses, the glass needs to be separated.
'We don't want to contaminate the mulch,' Wright said.
The intent was never to mislead the students into believing the glass was being recycled, Wright said.
'We don't want to, in any way, be misleading to the students,' Wright said.
So, late last week, the arrows were removed from the glass bins.
'Friday morning, I noticed the arrows were gone,' Cox said. 'I was just really excited. I felt like I was actually heard.'
Despite the removal of the arrows, Wright still wants to encourage students to separate the glass from their other waste products.
Janitors will have to do it if student don't, Cox said.
According to the video, BYU conservation program is widely held as one of the most comprehensive among United States colleges and universities.
However, wastes have increased yearly by about 10 percent, Petterman said.
Increases in food services, bookstore waste, vending services and even football game messes contribute, Petterman said.
'We used to average about 20 tons of waste per football game,' Petterman said. 'Now, we are averaging 26 to 30 tons per game.'
Despite the increases in waste, Wright emphasized that the Dining Services are doing all they can to be environmentally friendly.
Wright says BYU just changed from Hunt's ketchup to Heinz because Heinz offers a comparable product in environmentally friendlier pouches while Hunt still uses #10 size aluminum cans, Wright said.
'We are constantly working with food manufactures to ensure that their product is environmentally friendly,' Wright said.