Michael Koman is the environmental protection manager in the University Housing Department at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina. He can be reached at komanmd@gwm.sc.edu. This is his first article for Facilities Manager.

Many colleges and universities experience an overwhelming burden of trash during the final days of the spring semester as students move out of the residence halls. Whatever is no longer needed or does not fit in the family vehicle is left behind. Traditional methods of dealing with the increased volume of trash would be more frequent waste container pickups, which would mean larger costs to the university. Much of this increased trash volume is actually reusable and recyclable material. By recovering these materials, the institution can actually save money on disposal and labor, keep materials out of landfills, help local organizations, meet state recycling mandates, and increase the sustainability of the university.

Past recycling efforts at the University of South Carolina included sporadic food drives by student organizations and collection boxes in an occasional lobby; never collecting more than 500 pounds of materials. In 2001, the university's housing department wanted to increase recycling and sustainability efforts and formed a coalition that included members from university housing, facilities, the residence hall association, and student government, with support and backing by the School of Environment and the Sustainable Universities Initiative. In addition, several charitable and service organizations in the local community were designated as recipients of reusable materials. The "USC Take It or Leave It" project brought together the campus entities that were needed to make it a success, including those that would be most affected: custodial and recycling employees, maintenance personnel, and over 6,500 resident students.

The first question addressed was what to collect. Using past recycling experience and by polling students and custodial workers, a plan was developed to collect two groups of materials in two distinct ways. The first group to be collected would be personal items that were split into three parts and included clothing/shoes, non-perishable food, and miscellaneous toiletries, small appliances, and utensils. The plan was to set up three collection boxes on each floor of the 27 residence halls-one box for each group type. The boxes would be placed as close to the existing trash cans or exits as possible, under the assumption that more materials would be recovered if it were just as convenient to recycle as it was to dispose. This assumption would prove to be correct. With only a few weeks before the end of the semester, a desperate search was on for boxes. Purchasing several thousand dollars worth of boxes was out of the question. After raiding several cardboard collection points on campus for boxes, a local cardboard producer donated the 500 large boxes that were needed for this ambitious plan.

The second group of materials to be collected included bulk items such as cement blocks (used to make bookshelves and bunkbeds), loft beds/wood, and carpets. (Furniture collection was planned, but a cost-effective recycling or reuse option was not available.) Collection points were set up outside of the residence halls that were known to generate specific materials and signage was posted to identify collection points. When students moved out of the residence halls, these materials would normally be left in the buildings for maintenance and custodial personnel to remove. The drop-off allowed students and parents to participate in the program and avoid excess room charges for items left behind. The recycling of materials by the students helped the university save extensive labor, disposal costs, and precious time that was otherwise needed to prepare buildings for renovation projects or summer conferences.

Members of the "Take it or Leave it" committee, student organization volunteers, and students assigned to community service helped set up the boxes and signage two to three weeks prior to the end of classes. Material collections began within a week of the first boxes being placed and many of the residence assistants (RAs) and custodial personnel called in for material pickup. In the last week of the semester, most buildings needed two to three pickups. Volunteers collected materials in the residence halls in a wheeled cart, transported the contents to the lobby, and transferred them to a large gaylord container. Campus recycling personnel would then empty the gaylords as needed into a recycling truck. Once a truck was full it would be weighed at a local truck scale and the materials would be delivered to the receiving organization and/or charity. This procedure allowed the university to track the volume of recycled material.

Student government, the residence hall association, and other student groups, along with university housing staff, helped promote the project with announcements, banners, posters, and on-campus cable television commercials. The members of the residence life staff helped advertise the program on the residence hall floors, encouraged residents to participate, explained the benefits of recycling, and directed them to the drop off locations. We found that the more active a building's RAs were, the higher the participation rate and collection volume was for that building.

After school was out, collections continued for several more days, as volumes were higher than anyone imagined. Habitat for Humanity came to campus with a large volunteer force to collect the cement blocks and useable carpeting for their future projects. Habitat for Humanity was also onsite to collect over 30 tons of furniture for their cause.

The Harvest Hope Food Bank accepted almost 1,000 pounds of food. Sister Care Shelter received the half-ton of toiletries and appliances. Cooperative Ministries and the Salvation Army split the almost four tons of reusable clothing. In 2002, the university increased the numbers of charities receiving items since the large volumes of 2001 had overflowed most of the warehouses.

Major building renovations are a regular occurrence on many campuses during the summer months. Two large high rises were scheduled for major renovation this year, and with only a few weeks before school would start again, timing was crucial. Housing department personnel removed over 89 tons of furniture in one weekend and staged it for reuse by Habitat for Humanity and other state institutions and organizations.

The university had set a goal for 2001 of four to five tons of materials to be recovered by the students, which seemed to be optimistic for this first effort. For 2002, USC was prepared for the tremendous volume generated. Learning from the experience and problems of 2001, the program was able to increase the collection volumes while cutting the effort and time nearly in half.

The grand total generated by students resulted in 98,200 pounds (49.1 tons) of materials collected for reuse in 2001. Add this to the 89 tons of furniture sent for reuse, and USC prevented over 277,000 pounds (138 tons) from going to a landfill. For 2002, students generated 37.05 tons of reusable materials, with 80 cubic yards of carpet and 120 cubic yards of furniture being collected. The reusable materials dropped by nearly 10 tons due to a reduction in cement block collecting-more people were taking cement blocks home for use the following year. Even with the drop in overall volume, USC saw this as positive since the volume of trash generated was significantly reduced from 2001. University housing knew the message was getting out. Students and their families had become aware of their impact on campus and the environment, and were now taking steps to reduce that impact. Mistakes and improvements are already being discussed as USC looks forward to. Staff and students are documenting the steps of this project; we intend this years collection to become an annual tradition at USC. Students have already renamed the project "Give It Up" to increase attention and participation.

"The project really instilled the concept of sustainability within our students and staff while saving us valuable time and money" according to Tom Battenhouse, director of facilities for university housing. The "Give It Up" project helped local organizations, but also saved USC over $10,000 in disposal fees and $30,000 in labor costs. Extensive media coverage by major television and newspapers brought the university positive press and generated attention to this project and the Sustainable Universities Initiative at USC. This momentum and attention will be used to promote awareness of recycling and sustainability issues on campus for next year.