SHL part of UI recycling funded by Coke
Courtesy of The Daily Iowan. Written by Julia Poska July 3, 2018
“At the end of the day, we want our bottles and cans back,” said Sarah Dearman, the sustainable packaging program director for Coca-Cola North America.
The company has a goal to reuse 100 percent of its packaging by 2030, she said, and it commonly uses recycled content to reduce its carbon footprint.
Since 2007, Coca-Cola and Keep America Beautiful have granted more than 1 million recycling bins to public spaces around the country. Coca-Cola granted 300 to the UI in 2007.
As a condition of the grant, the office will distribute a “tiny trash” bin with each recycling bin, a standard already common around the university. Research by Keep America Beautiful has deemed tiny trash bins an effective way to increase office recycling.
The trash bins are significantly smaller than the recycling bins and clip onto the larger bins’ sides to encourage users to recycle more and throw away less.
Beth MacKenzie, the UI Office of Sustainability’s recycling coordinator, points to the Center for Disabilities and Development as an example in the university. In the first seven months after receiving tiny trash bins, the center upped recycling from 32 to 42 percent of its total waste.
So far, the Sustainability Office has distributed 100 bins to the State Hygienic Lab, in Coralville, much to the excitement of building coordinator and security officer Bill Berger.
“We’ve got a very pro-recycling staff here,” he said, “because the environment is at the forefront of the lab’s mission.”
The lab’s custodial staff distributed the bins in June. Berger relabeled the “slim jims” where staff bring their garbage and updated signs around the building. He also sent emails to let the staff know about the change.
“I think it just brings a refreshed awareness,” he said.
