Students compete for the scholarships by writing short essays on what natural resource management courses they are taking, how they are involved in recycling on campus and what recycling challenges they think must be addressed. Ontrop works at the Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing Lab, a project jointly funded by the university's College of Engineering and the Lucas County Solid Waste Management Waste District. Ontrop is tasked with conducting waste audits for local companies and suggesting ways to minimize waste and reduce costs. We need to educate the business leaders of tomorrow to understand that waste reduction can lower hauling costs. This savings will result in an overall reduction in production cost enabling businesses to be more productive and offer products at a lower price.
Recycling can be a competitive advantage.
Celano is working with the facilities department at Gettysburg College to reevaluate the school's recycling program. During the summer, she visited other colleges, recycling centers and composting facilities to see what they were doing. The trip to NRC fit nicely with this research. Celano thinks there's still much more education to be done about recycling. The confusion results in materials in the recycling bins that don't belong there, such as plastic film and foam cups.