Recycling an issue for renters

Blank metal cans, flattened cereal boxes and empty pop bottles lay heaped in a pile next to sophomore Cindy Woerner's trash can. They aren't there because the trash can is too full, or because Woerner is too lazy to throw them away. They are there because Woerner's off-campus apartment complex provides no way for her to recycle them. \n"I've always been into recycling," Woerner said. "I love the earth, and we're just using up all the resources by not recycling." \nBecause no permanent recycling programs exist in off-campus apartments, the Indiana Public Interest Research Group's off-campus recycling campaign will target the five largest Bloomington apartment complexes next semester by educating residents about recycling. INPIRG will also begin "Party Pickup," using a system of volunteers to collect excess bags of cans and bottles left over after parties. \nThe targeted complexes will be The Commons, College Mall Apartments, Hoosier Courts, Colonial Crest and Varsity Villas. \nAlthough Bloomington has a bi-weekly curbside recycling program in place, a city ordinance only allows the city to pick up waste from single family houses, so apartment waste disposal is handled by private companies. \nAnother obstacle INPIRG and Monroe County Solid Waste Management District faced was the lack of education of targeting complexes provided for their residents. Senior Melody Kanney, INPIRG off-campus recycling public education coordinator, said most residents didn't know where to put their recyclables, and some landlords didn't tell their maintenance workers what to do, so items such as carpet and couches were being put into the recycling bin. \nWhen recycling bins contain more than 10 percent non-recyclable material, they are considered contaminated and everything inside must be thrown away.\n"The main thing that we learned is that recycling will only work in apartment complexes if there is a commitment from management to educate their residents," MCSWMD Recycling and Reuse Director Melissa Kriegerfox said. \nKanney said she had planned to come right in this semester and set up permanent recycling facilities at off-campus apartments, but facing the same problems as the failed programs two years ago, she found it was infeasible at the time. \n"I don't think people understand how difficult it is to implement recycling in apartments," Kriegerfox said. "There really isn't anything we can do since we don't have the money, besides educating residents about our drop-off facilities." \nMCSWMD currently has six recycling drop-off locations in the county. Five of them are located in Bloomington, and one in Ellettsville. The main facility is located on South Walnut Street. \n"I think that lots of people would be recycling, but they just don't know where to go," Kanney said.\nKanney, an off-campus resident, has set up separate areas on her back porch for different kinds of recyclables, which she drives to Bloomington's drop-off center every two weeks. \nIn order to promote and encourage recycling, Citizen Services Coordinator for the City of Bloomington's Public Works Department, Christina Fulton, said though the city would like to promote recycling in apartment complexes, there's not much they can realistically do. They are not allowed to go on private property and they would need front loading equipment to empty dumpsters, instead of the rear-loaders they currently use. \n"The city does care about apartment recycling, but we don't have the equipment, funding or extra labor force," Fulton said.\nAlthough MCSWMD is not currently working to implement a permanent apartment recycling program, Kriegerfox has ideas on how they could eventually be achieved. \n"I think what Bloomington needs is its new apartment buildings to be designed with recycling in mind," Kriegerfox said. "Once they do it successfully, other communities will want to make it happen."\nAs INPIRG's spring campaign kicks off, Kanney hopes the group's programs will get information out so people will know what services are available. \n"Almost all trash is totally recyclable," Kanney said. "We only have a certain number of resources, and we can't just keep producing because at some point, we're going to run out"