Recycling in the SL District An overview of an Internship Project Dina Freedman GEOG

Pop Quiz How much trash do we each generate a day? 4 lbs How much garbage in the curbside trash bins in SL county do you think is recyclable? (%) Audits found up to 60% – From greenfiber.com and ksl.com

The Problem School recycling was at 50% No formal program Calculations had previously not been made to show the improvements from recycling – Cost reduction/Savings – Environmental Improvements (CO2) – Trash Reduction (quantity)

Previous Work SLD is considered Energy Star Leader by the EPA (Press Release, 2011) 50% of the schools were recycling mixed materials Successful implementation of paper recycling at 40+ tons a month

Deficiencies/Problems Custodial pushback of “too much work” Administration roadblocks/confusion Lack of student green teams/participation

Problem Questions How do we decrease the amount of trash removal and increase the amount of recyclable material? Why isn’t every school involved? What are the obstacles? – Perceived workload – All schools haven’t been reached yet – Time to work with schools/parents/admin

Methods Use existing data on price and volume – Cost savings & projections Survey administered to collect opinions and ideas – Custodial, administrative, kitchen staff Network with schools to communicate benefits of recycling Donor meetings/proposals

Deliverables/Methods A “Best Practices Guide” Increased school participation Administered surveys Figure 1: A sample of the survey data from The Custodial Survey. Question in regards to trash bag usage.

Model The district wished to have a prediction model – Cost – Volume – Changes – CO2 – Weight Figure 3: Cost savings for all 35 schools since implemented savings based on a 39 week school year.

Significance Recycling in schools now has more of a procedure with in the SLD SLD can accurately predict savings in cost, volume and CO2 Schools can use mathematical and scientific lessons Increased student awareness/stewardship