San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec




San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

Recycling program tops others in CA

File Photo

Jake Keeney, Contributor

In recent years, the San Diego State recycling program has developed into one of the best in Southern California and saves the university money every day.

In the current economy, universities can’t afford to fund costly programs and services, but recycling is a different story. The recycling program at SDSU saves the university money by diverting recyclable waste away from the trash.

“If a regular dumpster of trash costs me $11.20 every time it’s picked up and emptied, a recycling dumpster costs me $4.20,” Steve Lincoln, SDSU sustainability coordinator said. “So virtually if we didn’t have recycling, if all of that was going into the trash, I’d have to empty the container more often and it would cost me $11.20.”

Savings from the recycling program and the small rebates for the recycled materials adds up to save SDSU tens of thousands of dollars every year.

SDSU isn’t known for its recycling program, but to those who know the details, the program stands head and shoulders above the efforts of other California universities.

“I think ours is the best,” Lincoln said. “And I’m not just saying that. I know that other universities in this area get a lot of PR; we just don’t get as much. But we have programs here, the food waste program for example, which is just an awesome program. It’s going to divert somewhere around 250 tons of food waste away from the landfill this year.”

East Commons, West Commons, the Cuicacalli dining hall and soon Aztec Center, all contribute to SDSU’s food waste recycling program, which is one of only five programs in San Diego that compost food waste. In comparison, UC San Diego doesn’t have a program to compost food waste, even though it has access to more funds.

SDSU recycling routinely outperforms the standards set by the state. The amount of trash generated at SDSU per person, per day is 3.4 pounds, less than half of the state goal of 8.6 pounds of trash per capita.

About four years ago, members of the Enviro-Business Society estimated the ratio of trash bins to recycle bins on campus was around 9-to-1. A count this summer showed a clear improvement with a ratio of about two and a half trash bins for every recycle bin.

The Physical Plant and SDSU student organizations such as Green Love have plans to continue adding recycle bins to improve this ratio even further.

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San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913
Recycling program tops others in CA