What’s New About Recycling at ISU?

Released by Idaho State University September 16, 2010
Contact: Donna Lybecker. 282-3331 or Mark McBeth, 282-2740

What’s New About Recycling at ISU?
ISU Faculty, Staff, Students Respond to Survey

POCATELLO – Idaho State University Department of Political Science faculty members Donna Lybecker and Mark McBeth recently completed a grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) that involved both studying recycling and educating the campus community about recycling.
In late spring 2010, the two conducted their second recycling survey sending an e-mail survey to all ISU faculty, staff and students. They received responses from 1,656 ISU faculty, staff and students. Their findings indicate that 77 percent of the ISU community views ISU having a recycling program as important.
Despite this view of the importance of recycling, 65 percent of the ISU community is unsatisfied with ISU’s current recycling program. Respondents indicated in both the survey questions and comments that dissatisfaction with recycling rests with the inconvenience that comes from a lack of available of recycling bins, inadequate signage, and inconsistent pick up of recycling materials. Ninety percent of respondents supported an expanded ISU recycling program.
As part of the USEPA grant, Lybecker and McBeth were able to purchase recycling bins for several offices and working with Bill MacLachlan, associate director of Campus Recreation, they were able to outfit Reed Gym and the new Student Recreation Center with recycling bins as a way to conduct a pilot study of the feasibility of co-mingled recycling at ISU.
There are still some bins remaining and interested departments and offices can contact Lybecker and McBeth for details. MacLachlan is currently collecting recyclable materials using the City of Pocatello’s co-mingled recycling program. The Reed Gym and Student Recreation Center projects have produced a lot of discussion about the future of recycling at ISU.
Currently, the ISU Recycling Committee is working with the ISU Administration to expand recycling efforts. The committee is comprised of Lybecker, McBeth, MacLachlan, Glenn Thackray in the ISU geosciences department, Shannon Ansley with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and Linda Burke, retired ISU staff member.
A study spearheaded by Thackray (http://geology.isu.edu/thackray/ISU_Recycling/) presented several cost neutral options for recycling and was presented to the administration in the spring. A meeting this summer indicated that the university community should be seeing some of these new efforts at recycling in coming months.
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