Going green

"Reduce, reuse, recycle," may be a phrase from the 1980s, but two decades later, Duke administrators and students say they are still doing their part to save the environment.

Last week alone, the University cut its waste consumption by a ton with the implementation of a composting program at the East Union. Under the initiative, dish workers at the Marketplace remove all compostable materials and place them in special receptacles.

"Probably 45 to 50 percent of the things we used to take to the landfill are now being composted," said Skip Herrod, manager of the Marketplace. "It gives us something to do with the food and paper products that we were just throwing away."

Although the process has required more employee training, Herrod said it might actually save time by reducing the frequency with which workers must empty trash bins.

The system has been so successful that David Randolph, resident district manager for ARAMARK Corp., said he hopes to implement it soon at the Great Hall.

"Since we have to pay for all the trash we throw away, we will save on trash pick-up and the money we save will fund the compost fees. We know we will at least break even, if not save," Randolph said. "We recommend doing it even if it doesn't save because we must set a standard."

University officials say they try to hold a high standard for recycling across campus and point to many initiatives implemented over the years.

One prominent group, Duke Recycles, has grown significantly since its beginning in 1989.

"By putting bins in students' rooms, we know they actually have a choice now. When it's in their room, they can decide whether to trash it or recycle it," Butler said, adding that not all students use the bins for recycling.

Students are responsible for sorting their individual recycling and placing items in large dorm bins, but sometimes bins are contaminated with trash, Butler said.

"We rely on the housekeeping staff to empty those," Butler said. "[But] they are not responsible for separating the trash that gets thrown in the recycling bins. The housekeepers should not have to care enough to sort it if the students don't."

Fidelia Thomason, director of housing management, said housekeepers recycle the contents of the bin even if they are contaminated with non-recyclable materials.

Other Duke organizations have tried to curb waste in the past as well. For example, the campus steam plant sends all of its coal ash to Virginia, where it is used to make asphalt or cinder blocks. Before this project began, the plant sent 7,000 tons of ash per year to the landfill, said plant director Dennis Kennedy.

Bob Friedman, energy management specialist for facilities management, said he has made efforts to reduce water and electricity use in offices and classrooms. Facilities management has installed retrofitted lighting equipped with low-mercury bulbs, placed restrictive valves on toilets and added aerators to faucets. Water and energy consumption has remained at a constant level since 1995, even though the University has grown.

More recently, the University last April built a new chill water loop near the West Edens Link to replace individual chilling units. The loop has the capacity to cool all of West Campus.

"Because of economies of scale, this large chiller is more efficient because it uses less kilowatts of electricity to cool the same amount of water," said Glen Reynolds, project engineer for facilities management. "We spend less on energy with this chiller and have the capacity to cool all of West Campus."

Since construction of the WEL began, Butler and contractors have begun a construction and demolition recycling program that facilitates recycling of scraps from construction areas.