Peralta Expands Recycling Program

Recycling bins at College of Alameda

This past August, nearly $250,000 of indoor and outdoor recycling bins purchase by Peralta’s Department of General Services began appeared at all the Peralta Colleges’ in outdoor walkways and in classrooms. General Services had been collaborating, for over a year, with college custodial supervisors and business managers in designing a recycling protocol that would work with the staffing levels available in the District.

With a draft system agreed upon in August, General Services staff followed through on their long-standing intention to purchase and deploy the bins.

Sustainability Organizer Jack Lin and 10 temporary student employees — with funding by Director of Maintenance and Operations Bob Beckwith and with the support of Warehouse staff and the colleges’ custodial staff — spent three full weeks placing bins in every classroom, lab, and commons area. The work crews sorted and delivered nearly 1000 indoor recycling bins to individual offices and classrooms. The crews also assembled some 140 sets of outdoor recycling bins, then moved the 90-lb. clusters individually to strategic locations on the campuses. Some of the faculty and staff who passed by the work crews expressed their appreciation and relief that such a program was finally happening at their college.

Students, faculty, staff and administrators have always wanted the ability to recycle at their campuses. At the March 2006 Sustainable Peralta Conference at Laney College, nearly all the participants voiced that the number one priority for the District should be a comprehensive recycling program. At the time, recycling efforts at the colleges were ad hoc and limited to select areas. At Merritt College in particular, long-time recycling advocate Jim Harding had made significant headway in establishing regular recycling routines for the college. With new bins and buy-in from the custodial staff, however, Peralta’s recycling efforts can expand greatly.

Now, the challenge is to educate Peralta students, staff and faculty about what can and cannot be recycled at Peralta. The effort is worthwhile, though. Half joking, Rachel Balsley, a program manager at StopWaste.org, says ”Recycling is the ‘gateway drug’ to sustainability.” She then explains that ”Students learn about recycling, and they are suddenly introduced to the idea of zero-waste and ecological footprints.”

As simple as it seems, setting up a recycling program at Peralta was far from easy. People are often wary of trying new things, even when they seem to make sense. Persistence and patience were needed to forge this new pathway. Special thanks are due to the head custodians Christine Williams (Laney), Dwayne Cain (BCC), George Revell (CoA), and Felix Smith (Merritt) who along the college business managers and Jack Lin were resolve major obstacles. Thanks are also due to Peralta Trustee Nicky Gonzalez Yuen and Chancellor Elihu Harris who repeatedly pushed to make recycling a policy priority, as well as to Vice Chancellor of General Services Sadiq Ikharo who directed staff to devote resources into implementing program.