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Printer-Friendly ModeFacilities manager going for 'green'
April 2, 2007 —
Dorie Wenglikowski likes to talk trash. Not in the sense of putting a person down, but she would like to see less items trashed, and more being recycled.
Working at SVSU for 20 years, the Custodial Operations Manager has always wanted to work on improving the campus recycling program, and her current position gives her the opportunity to do so.
An interest in a similar recycling program on the main campus has sparked an idea to run a recycling test on campus throughout the next few weeks.
The test will include placing six bins around campus in order to make students aware of the endless recycling possibilities. The bins will be color-coded blue to designate where to recycle paper and cardboard and green for glass, tin and plastic products.
Currently the main campus participates in paper recycling. This includes recycled toilet paper as well as paper towels.
Students in the dorms recycle paper, plastic, tin, cardboard, and glass, all of which are important to the environment.
One recycling bin will be in the Ryder Center, in hopes of decreasing the number of plastic water bottles thrown away.
Wenglikowski has seen increasing progress in the dorms' recycling program and would like to see these attitudes carried all throughout the campus.
"I am really hoping this program will be a success," said Wenglikowski. "I think on-campus residents will continue their good habits and help others get involved."
A major goal of this new program is to designate SVSU as having a "green" campus, meaning a large percentage of products are being recycled.
There are different levels reached in this designation. This is done through yearly reports on what is being recycled as well as the content of each material.
The success of the recycling test will determine what is to be done with recycling in the future at SVSU. Students are a main concern of Wenglikowski's, as she believes the recent enrollment increase should serve as a positive when calculating the program's year results.
"I would like to see everything increase at least 10 to 15 percent on the main campus," Wenglikowski said.
When sorting out the products, Wenglikowski said there is usually a problem with students placing trash in the recycling bins. When asked what can be done to solve this problem, she came up with a simple task.
"If you can recycle, be conscious of the trash you have," Wenglikowski said. "Just don't contaminate the recycling."