Ray Francis, housekeeping supervisor for Facilities Management, said the university produces about 991 tons of garbage each academic year. Of those 991 tons, only 29.7 percent, or 294 tons, was recycled in 1995. Freshman Matt Corso, president of the Residence Hall Environmental Group, said Putnam Hall collects about 200 to 400 pounds of recyclable trash a week. Of those recycled products, paper is the most prevalent, but is also recycled the least in terms of the overall quantity on campus, Francis said. RHEG tried an advertising campaign in Putnam and Katharine Thomas Halls to promote recycling, but it didn't affect the amount of recyclables produced.
Many students are unaware of the expense involved in removing and processing the recyclables.
Segregated fees, which support the university operations, cover the recycling cost of Davies center, Hilltop, and the Crest Wellness Center, but the fees required to process recyclables generated in the residence halls comes from the residents' pockets, Francis said. Housing pays an outside recycling company to process the dorms' recyclables. RHEG has developed many new alternatives to increase recycling awareness. Thursday, it will sponsor the first annual Environmental Junk Sculpture Contest. The fund-raiser is a competition between the organizations on campus to build a sculpture out of recyclable goods, Schwarz said.