Of all the students and staff on campus, only 26 percent of them are recycling their garbage, said Michael Planton, associate director for landscape and environmental management at Ball State University.
Ball State has been recycling for more than 15 years, Planton said, and he is trying to make it easier for students and staff to recycle their belongings.
The department is placing green recycling bins inside the buildings on campus, he said, and has been for the past few years. There are no recycling bins occupying outdoor areas of campus, Planton said, but the department is working to change that within the next couple of weeks.
Jason King, manager at the East Central Recycling Plant, said Muncie is using a system called "Do the Blue." This is a program for Muncie residents. Its goal is to fill blue trash bags with recyclables, he said. After the bag is full it is thrown away in the appointed green trash can, he said.
The green trash can is designated for Muncie residents who are to position the can next to the curb for their recyclables to be picked up, he said. When their trash is picked up it is taken to the East Central Recycling Plant, King said, where it is "sorted out to be recycled and made into a new product."
The Department of Landscape and Environmental Management began to use East Central Recycling Plant's blue bag system a month ago, Planton said. "Do the Blue" helps the workers see what is recyclable right away so that it can be recycled accordingly, he said.
Ball State and East Central Recycling Plant both recycle clean cardboard; mixed office paper; numbers one through seven plastics; newspaper; green, brown and clear glass; aluminum cans; computer cartridges; and cell phones, he said.
The recycling plant also takes yard waste, household hazardous waste, electronics and appliances, King said.
When recycling glass, plastics and aluminum the three recycling arrows are placed on the bottom or the side of the container, letting consumers know that the product is recyclable, Planton said. When in doubt, he said, just recycle the product and the company will throw the item away if it is not recyclable.
In Muncie, King said, everyone in the city does not have his recycling picked up. The only people who have their recycling picked up are the people in the sanitary district, he said.
There are about 130,000 people in the sanitary district, he said, and these people get to have their recycling disposed of for them. Anyone outside of the district has to bring his or her own recycling to the plant, he said.
The Department of Landscape and Environmental Management has been using "Recycling; it's in your hands" as its slogan to get students attention, Planton said.
"I can't recycle something if you don't give it to me," he said.
It's up to the students and staff to recycle their items, he said, and if they don't put anything in the bins it won't get recycled.
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