UofA Recycling Part II

Greetings. Hope everyone had a good weekend. This week I had the pleasure of conducting interviews for a story I wrote in class on the new Architecture building at the UofA and how important green living is to the department. I spoke with Charles Albanese, the Dean of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Ron Stoltz, the Director of Landscape Architecture and a professor in the department and Jackie Moxley from the Water Resource Research Center.

My interviews were very productive and a lot of recycling was incorporated with the whole construction process. During my interview with Albanese, he told me that the brick and concrete from the old building were detached, smashed and broken up. The pieces were then used to cover the ground. I thought that was a good idea because it keeps a part of the old building alive and fits it in with the new look. It would have been a waste of time and money if it all had been taken to the dump and disposed of.

During my interview with Moxley, who helped design a website that raises awareness of sustainability on campus (http://www.sustainability.arizona.edu/), she told me the issue has been raised of putting more recycle bins on campus.

“There have been lots of complaints among students, staff and faculty that there could be a lot more depositing recyclables. You just see a lot of bottles and cans in the garbage. That’s really frustrating. It should be really easy that you don’t have to go searching for bins to put it in or at least think about where you’re putting it and not dump it in the trash.”

It is a good idea to raise more awareness about recycling but regardless, there will always be people who don’t care. I think if more bins are placed on campus, there will be an increase in recycling.

Another campus organization Moxley mentioned was the Arizona Student Recycling Association (http://clubs.asua.arizona.edu/~asra/index.htm). The website has some photos from 2001 on America Recycles Day and a short mission statement along with contact information.

I also tried downloading this YouTube video but it wouldn’t let me play it on my blog. It was promoting Recycle Mania and posted last January by EcoCoordinator. Here’s the URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UWZVSJ5xV0

Enjoy folks and talk to you next week.