UA Recycles More Than 1,200 Tons During Past Year

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – It has been another record year for recycling on The University of Alabama campus.

During UA’s recently completed 2009-2010 fiscal year, UA collected 1,247 tons of recyclables, an increase of more than 40 percent from the previous campus record of 885.8 tons recycled in 2008-2009, said Tony Johnson, director of logistics and support services at UA.

“Hats off to the entire campus community for working together to make campus recycling a success,” Johnson said. “Every piece of paper, every water bottle recycled is one less item added into our landfills.”

The most heavily-recycled item on campus is wood, with 629,460 pounds recycled during the latest fiscal year. Much of the wood was generated from the recycling of pallets, crates and tree limbs.

A close second was sorted office paper with 614,220 pounds collected. UA also recycled more than 546,480 pounds of metal, some 319,000 pounds of cardboard, and more than 138,390 pounds of food waste sent to UA’s arboretum for compost.

More than 10,700 light bulbs, 3,150 gallons of used motor oil and 184 used vehicle batteries were also recycled.

For campus’ complete recycling numbers see  http://financialaffairs.ua.edu/admin/lss/recycle/recycling-reports/recycling_09_10.pdf. For more information about campus recycling see http://financialaffairs.ua.edu/admin/lss/recycle/.

While recycling is a daily, year-round effort on campus, Johnson reminded fans that football Saturdays are another great time to think of recycling.

During every home football game, UA employees hand out hundreds of recycling bags to tailgaters on the Quad so that cardboard, aluminum cans, plastic cups, food wrappers and other types of plastics, including ice bags, can be collected and recycled on game day.  Fans are encouraged to bring these game-day recyclables to the recycling tent set up east of the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library during each home football game.

The recycling program at The University of Alabama was one of five finalists in the 2010 Southern Association of College and University Business Officers Best Practices competition.

UA’s recycling efforts have grown significantly over the last decade. In 2000-2001, UA recycled 56 tons of materials.