IU promotes recycling awareness

Usually a unicorn, a sun, a swallow and flying bottles don’t have much in common. However, all of these are the winning designs to be displayed on recycling bins throughout campus.\nThe IU Task Force on Campus Sustainability held a design contest for recycling bins in February. More than 20 students submitted their designs and the top 10 were selected.\nThe top two designers won cash prizes of $100 and $50. \nFirst place went to senior Kelly Breeze and Liz Bockstiegel was the runner up.\nThe judging panel consisted of two undergraduate students, one graduate student, School of Fine Arts assistant professor Mariana Tres and Steve Akers, associate director of environmental operations for Residential Programs and Services.\nThe judges were looking for original artwork that was visually interesting. Volunteers in Sustainability President Vanessa Caruso said the only criterion originally established was for the designs to be eye-catching.\nWhile picking the winners, Caruso said the judges favored designs that were “creative, innovative and colorful.”\nBockstiegal, the second-place winner, described her design as a pink and purple tree with bright purple leafs. She said there are swirls of color throughout, and the lid of the bin is blue and green with swirls.\n“It is really big and colorful,” she said. “(Painting) was stress-relieving because I am not an art major so I don’t get to paint all the time.”\nBockstiegal said she would definitely do it again, given the chance.\nJordan Jacobs, a member of the IU Task Force on Campus Sustainability, came up with the idea for the contest. He said he thought outrageous, outdoor recycling bins would help bring attention to recycling.\n“It was a good opportunity to display artwork on campus while doing something nice for IU and sustain,” said Corey McAninch, one of the top-10 designers.\nAkers said the bins are not permanent, but instead, a temporary project that will help gauge how much recyclable material is collected. This is just the first step to help determine the best locations for placing permanent recycling bins on campus, he said.\nThe recyclable items include plastic, glass and aluminum. \nVolunteers will take all of the aluminum goods collected to the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center. The proceeds will help fund the center’s youth gardening program.\nMembers of the Volunteers in Sustainability and some volunteers from Alpha Phi Omega stood by the recycling bins Wednesday to educate people about recycling and other ways to help IU’s campus environmentally. The eye-catching bins will be in high-traffic locations such as on Seventh Street, Third Street, Jordan Avenue and near the Student Recreational Sports Center. \nThe bins will remain on campus until the end of spring semester. In the summer, the bins themselves will be ‘recycled’ and used temporarily for freshman orientation events.