As early as my first week at Bryn Mawr College, I was surprised by the lack of waste receptacles on campus. Trash bins were scattered around in high-traffic areas but were few and far between, as evidenced by the rapidly expanding collection of miscellaneous papers and gum wrappers I had stuffed in my backpack. Even more puzzling was that very few existing trash bins were accompanied by recycling or compost bins. This sparked a deep dive into the waste management methods employed by the college and a curiosity about how greater availability of waste receptacles could bring us closer to achieving sustainability goals.
To start my search for information on initiatives involving waste and sustainability on campus, I contacted Bryn Mawr’s Sustainability Leadership Group (SLG). I spoke with Nina Bisbee, Director of Facilities and one of the Co-Convenors of SLG, to get a better sense of their role in implementing and organizing programs on campus. “SLG meets to coordinate and advocate for sustainability on campus and aims to support student groups that promote sustainability. In the past, initiatives like drying racks in the dorms and supporting student-initiated dorm energy competitions were [spearheaded by] SLG. The group also makes suggestions and advocates for other initiatives that are largely implemented by our operating departments, such as our single-stream waste program, composting, and the electric bus. The group also plans Earth Week,” Bisbee says.
I was also interested to hear how she would define waste management and what is important to keep in mind when designing waste management initiatives. Bisbee expressed that, for her, waste management begins with purchasing less and being mindful of how we can repurpose or reuse items that we no longer want. This makes donating and buying second-hand particularly important. Haverford College’s (RE)use Store, a sustainability project set up in Comfort Hall’s basement, embodies this ideal. The store accepts second-hand donations, and allows campus community members to browse its stock free of charge.
However, waste will inevitably be produced, and at that point, the main effort comes down to “diverting as much waste as possible from our trash stream through composting and recycling,“ Bisbee states. A primary concern for recycling and composting is ensuring that there is no contamination, as well as “the carbon footprint related to the distance it must be hauled and the efficacy of the recycling vendor in actually recycling the materials.”
Bryn Mawr College manages trash and recycling by emptying its bins and taking them to a central dumpster location near Brecon Hall. From there, bags of recycling, which are clear, are emptied into a specific recycling dumpster; trash bags, which are solid colored, are emptied into a trash dumpster.
Photo by Addie Kieffer
Trash gets taken to a landfill in Conestoga, PA, about 45 miles from campus. “This is a modern facility that manages leachate and collects the methane from the landfill and pipes it to a power generating facility to prevent it from being released into the atmosphere,” Bisbee informs. She also underlines the importance of taking personal actions to reduce the waste we throw away – ideas for how to accomplish this can be found on the Bryn Mawr website under personal actions.
Recycling is transported to a transfer station before being taken to a recycling plant in King of Prussia, PA. “It is important to note that the clear bags are visually inspected, and if there is visible contamination, the bag will be treated as trash. Our vigilance in keeping our recycling stream clean is central to the success of the program,” Bisbee emphasizes. Bryn Mawr College’s website houses a list of everything that can be recycled.
While I do firmly agree that it is crucial to keep our recycling stream clean, I was a little taken aback by the somewhat limited list of items that could be recycled, as well as the idea that entire bags of recycled material could be treated as trash if contamination is suspected. I found a lot of overlap between Bryn Mawr’s list of items not accepted into the recycling stream, and this list of 20 items that could, in fact, potentially be recycled on campuses.
For me, this further drives home the sentiment that there is more to be done – whether that is additional receptacles for items not currently able to be recycled, such as electronics, or more education and opportunities for the campus community to be engaged in reusing and repurposing unwanted items.
As for my initial concerns about a lack of accessibility of waste receptacles, Bisbee responded, “We are in the process of relaunching our single-stream recycling program with updated signage and new bins at central locations. Keep your eyes open for [the] announcement that will go out in the coming weeks once we receive the new signage.”
Clear and accessible communication about how to properly dispose of a variety of waste is vital, and Bisbee highlights the importance of waste audits, which amounts to “digging through our trash and recycling to see what is being thrown away, the level of contamination in our recycling, and the common recycling mistakes.” At the forefront of these initiatives is the longstanding importance of working towards being able to gather the “information we need to determine how to expand our composting program, improve our communications to ensure a clean recycling stream, and make other improvements.”
North Carolina State University is an example of an institution that has been putting waste audits into effect. Through these audits, the University discovered that waste bins with restricted openings yielded the lowest contamination rates, and recognized the biggest misconceptions that people make when discarding items. These audits would be invaluable at an institution like Bryn Mawr.
To help usher in some of these changes, Bryn Mawr College recently announced at the inauguration ceremony of President Wendy Cadge that the institution will hire a Sustainability Coordinator, an idea put forward by SLG. Associate Professor of Geology and Environmental Studies Don Barber noted in the press release that “A dedicated, full-time sustainability coordinator is crucial for synthesizing and accelerating College efforts toward our goals.”
“I think this position will have a big impact on our ability to accelerate our efforts and engage the community. But sustainability is not one person’s job. To be successful, we will all need to participate,” Bisbee explained.
It is important to recognize that sustainability is an effort for all of us and we should all strive to be more involved. SLG holds annual engagement sessions where members of the campus community can gather in a collaborative setting to discuss issues of sustainability. The Holiday Fair on Dec. 5 last semester provided another opportunity to participate in these conversations.
I attended the Sustainability Listening Session on Nov. 21 and found the experience informative and productive. These sessions foster an environment where people can voice a diverse range of perspectives and propose unique ideas. I was particularly interested in a conversation about the possibility of expanding SEPTA’s Key Advantage program to staff and faculty as a means for reducing the carbon footprint produced by commuting.
All in all, I am grateful to have gained a better understanding of how Bryn Mawr College manages its waste and sustainability goals. Nonetheless, I think making it easier for people to properly discard items, in conjunction with promoting the reuse and repurposing of unwanted items, represents an opportunity for Bryn Mawr to continue to make progress towards these goals.
Furthermore, it is crucial that we take the initiative to contribute to sustainability efforts as individuals. A greater array of waste receptacles with larger signage will have a stronger impact if we take the time to educate ourselves and reflect on the personal choices we are making. We should all be asking ourselves how we can get involved not only in Bryn Mawr’s sustainability mission, but in a global mission to protect our environment.
