Dumpsters yield clues in Kirkwood campus project
–by Kelsey Delperdang, Kirkwood Communique’
While most students at Kirkwood Community College pay no attention to what they throw away, five in students of Barb Dobling’s Sociology of the Environment class are interested in separating the recyclables from the waste.
On Feb. 13 Adam Gillaspey, Liberal Arts; Jessica Harbaugh, nursing; Keir James, Liberal Arts; Liz Richards, environmental science and Dani Zwanziger, Liberal Arts put their rubber gloves on and took to the dumpsters of Kirkwood.
The students who participated are applying for a grant from the Cedar Rapids/Linn County (CR/LC) Solid Waste Agency. The Community Partnership Grant Program awards grants of up to $7,000. The money will be used to implement a new, innovative waste diversion program that reduces the amount of waste generated, reuses products beyond a one-time use and implement a full-scale recycling program.
According to Dobling, one of the requirements for the grant is to report a solid waste stream analysis. To do this, the students investigated five dumpsters on campus and recorded what could have been be recycled. The students found that 85 percent of what was in the Iowa Hall Dumpster was recyclable.
According to the CR/LC Solid Waste Agency, over 60 percent of what Linn County businesses and households throw away can be reduced, reused or recycled into something new.
“With the grant we hope to get a lot more recycling bins and other recycling programs on campus,” said Harbaugh.