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Mini bins make big waste impact on campus
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Mini bins make big waste impact on campus
After a successful pilot in one large administrative building on campus cut landfill waste from offices by half, new "trash mini-bins" have been rolled out across campus in a bid to reduce waste and increase recycling as part of sustainable campus behavior.Get more news about waste bin,you can vist our website!
The goal? Reduce landfill waste, and increase recycling.
"The smaller bins encourage people to think about throwing something away," said Bob Pils, Director of Building Care. "The bins essentially help people make a more sustainable choice by making recycling easier, and throwing something in the trash harder."
"The bins essentially help people make a more sustainable choice by making recycling easier, and throwing something in the trash harder."The bins were rolled out across campus after a 2016 pilot with staff in the Humphreys Service Building and Rice Hall demonstrated significant waste reduction and increased recycling rates.
Within three months of the program's introduction, both buildings had reduced landfill waste generation by 55%, and improved waste sorting by 22.5% (meaning fewer recyclable materials were found in the trash).
But the mini-bins provide an additional benefit to building care staff - reducing points of contact where germs or contaminated materials might live. As part of a campus-wide push to protect the health of staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mini-bins ensure Cornell's custodial teams have fewer points of interaction with potentially contaminated materials such as papers, kleenex, or food wrappers.
Most staff in the pilot indicated they empty the bins once or twice a week. On average, landfill waste in the pilot was reduced by 36lbs per day.
"Our goal should be reducing overall waste, period" said Spring Buck, Associate Director of Facilities Management Operations. Buck was an early champion of recycling and sustainability initiatives in previous roles in Facilities and Campus Services and is passionate about supporting a vision of a low-waste, sustainable campus.