Waynesburg University has one of the lowest recycling ratios among universities in America, yet another student organized club is pushing to change that. 

Information was gathered by a student and faculty led recycling task force in 2014 that indicated Waynesburg University only recycled between one and two percent of all generated waste—a stark contrast against the national average that hovers around 30 percent. Since then, the task force has fallen dormant and the recycling efforts on campus have not seen dramatic changes. 

Now, a new push has been started by the EcoStewards Club to issue recycling bins to on-campus houses. Nathan Blake, president of the EcoStewards Club, started the effort after witnessing firsthand the lack of recycling offered to on-campus houses. 

“This is my first [year] in an on-campus house,” Blake said. “Moving in and unpacking groceries it’s like ‘man I don’t want to throw all of this out.’ I was just bagging [recyclables] and [disposing of it myself.]” 

Unsatisfied with the recycling options available to him, Blake said he took an unofficial survey with various members of on-campus houses to see if they would utilize a recycling bin. With positive feedback, Blake, backed by the EcoStewards Club, started the process of putting the change in motion. 

Then, in December, Blake issued a formal survey to the House Leaders across campus to determine if the interest for recycling bins was legitimate. 

An excerpt of the email stated that it would be a free service for the students, “If having a free-of-charge, recycling bin at your on-campus house is something which would interest you and/or your housemates, please reply to this email and state your interest.” 

Out of the 17 individuals the email was sent to, Blake said 15 responded and everyone voiced support for the project. With the green light, Blake said the change started to be put in place, backed with the support of Matt Pioch, director of housing, and Ryan Smith, assistant director of Student Activities. 

“[Pioch] and [Smith] were a huge help in getting it approved and running some numbers,” Blake said. “[Smith] actually designed really cool branding and posters for all the recycling bins so the EcoStewards were going to purchase just the bins and Student Services was going to give the branding.” 

Yet, like so many attempts before, the recycling effort ran into delays. Student workers were intended to be utilized for collecting the bins, but Blake said there aren’t enough of them. 

“We ran a lot of numbers and got all the logistics worked out,” Blake said. “The issue being that there are not enough student workers and there wasn’t a budget for the additional students and the man hours it would take with the additional recycling.” 

Since Student Senate handles student workers, Blake said the project was passed off to be handled by the senate. After transitioning the project to Student Senate, Blake said he wasn’t given any time frame for solving the problem. 

Despite the delays in pushing recycling into on-campus housing, Blake said other strides have been met to be more resourceful with the waste the university generates. With help from the EcoStewards Club, the campus cafeteria no longer uses Styrofoam cups for buffet-style meals and a recycling shed has been added behind the Beehive.