UVU: Is it really green?

Walking around campus, many blue recycling bins can be seen around the hallways. Although UVU has a recycling program, it doesn’t quite match up to other campuses in the state.

For example, the University of Utah has an expansive recycling program with an informative Web site. BYU is also heavily involved with recycling and has its own recycling center.

Clay Allred, UVU’s assistant director of operations/facilities and technical services, said that UVU doesn’t have the facilities or storage to do extensive recycling such as sorting between colored and white paper.

Finances are also a factor that demands consideration when looking into expanding the recycling program. Allred said that the majority of the funds used to maintain the recycling program on campus come from profits made off of the recycling itself. Funds also come from the vice president’s office, which pays for part of the labor, and the rest comes from the Sorensen Center budget.

“I think over time (the recycling program) will probably grow,” said Allred. It might take considerable time before UVU expands its recycling services, but the school is still taking some initiative to be greener.

“We recycle cardboard, paper and aluminum cans,” said Allred. “A lot of people ask about plastics, but right now we don’t recycle them. Hopefully that is something that we can recycle in the future, but I can’t guarantee it.”

UVU staff and students are encouraged to recycle paper by using the blue recycling bins placed throughout the hallways, in offices and student computer labs.

Some places on campus have taken their own initiative to recycle their waste. For example, UVU Dining Services recycles their spent cooking oil.

“Bonneville Livestock, Inc., a company based out of Lehi, picks (the spent grease) up. They do charge us to pick it up and clean out our drums, but it’s a minor charge,” said Val Brown, the UVU director of dining services. “They take it and filter out the impurities and recycle it into biodiesel fuel.”

The UVU bookstore is also offering the service for students to drop off their ink cartridges and old cell phones to be recycled.

Although UVU’s program may not be as extensive as those of other campuses in the area, it does provide the basic services for students to recycle their paper, cardboard and aluminum cans.

For questions or requests for blue paper recycling bins, call Clay Allred at (801) 863-8869.