The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/114745
π W Aaron Ferguson, Director Disability Support (center), pitches in with Mass Academy students Rohit Satishchandra and Rachel Maillet to create a greener campus. dirty work Student Green Team Digs Recycling WPI FACULTY, STAFF, and students volunteered to do some dirty work to celebrate America Recycles Day® on Nov. 15. Garbed in protective suits and gloves, they dug into 1,058 pounds of trash from six campus buildings for WPI's second annual Waste Stream Audit. Physically sorting through the contents of trash barrels provides a graphic impression of how much is thrown away on an average day, and how much could have been recycled, says Student Sustainability coordinator Kate Roosa '14, an environmental engineering major from Cottekill, N.Y. She organized the event with WPI's Student Green Team. "When most people throw something out, they don't necessarily think about where it's going," Roosa says. "Although you have to gear up to sort other people's trash, I think that everybody should try it at least once, for the educational value." Liz Tomaszewski, who serves as sustainability coordinator for the university, says, "This year's results show that our academic buildings are doing a great job recycling. The residential buildings show a much lower recycling rate, and we really need to work on this. We expect that the EcoRep program, which uses peer education to build awareness, will help improve these results in the future." Winter 2013 19