Emily Rankin
UI Sustainability
Recycling Coordinator
If you have been in the Kibbie Dome this semester, you may have noticed shiny new blue and silver recycling bins. In fall 2013, the Sustainability Center was awarded a $20,000 Sustainable Materials Management grant from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to help jumpstart a new and improved recycling program at the Kibbie Dome and to conduct an educational campaign on the harmful effects single-use plastic water bottles have on our environment.
In the past, recycling at the Kibbie Dome was limited to only a few portable bins scattered throughout the concourse. Now — thanks to this grant — there are permanent bins at every entrance to the stands, the Litehouse and portable bins for the tailgate parking lot during the football season. University of Idaho Support Services purchased bins for each of the private suites and provided frames for signage. The goal of this program is to reach a 1-to-1 ratio of recycling bins to trash cans in the Kibbie Dome and at the tailgate parking lot.
The grant also funded a part-time recycling intern, who is responsible for promoting the program throughout campus, creating and conducting educational workshops on the recycling program and working with the Sustainability Center’s recycling coordinator to manage the program and work through logistics. To say the least, we are so excited about this new recycling program. It will not only help the university reduce its waste but also represents a major, collaborative success with University Support Services, Moscow Recycling Center, the Environmental Science Department, Environmental Club and Facilities Management. Collaboration between campus stakeholders and community partners is exactly what it takes to make big change happen on a university campus — lots of motivated, passionate people got together and committed to new responsibilities to make this program successful and together, are making UI a greener place.
For now, the bins only accept No.1 and No.2 plastics and aluminum cans. In the future, we hope to be able to accept more types of materials as campus and citywide recycling capabilities improve. Even so, with just plastic and aluminum, we can reduce much of the waste produced during sports and other major events at the Kibbie Dome.
Our first big event with the new recycling infrastructure was the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. While we were nervous about how our program would hold up with the influx of recyclable items, we had great results. When compared to last year’s numbers, the volume of plastic and aluminum collected in the landfill at Jazz Fest decreased by 82.8 percent. To get this data we had to do a “waste characterization,” which involved picking a random dumpster and emptying it out to separate the garbage into recyclable, compostable and landfill materials, and then weighing each category.
We were excited to see how little recycling there was in the trash. Yet, there is still room for improvement — the program could be expanded to collect more recyclable materials, or (better yet) compostable waste. In fact, 65 percent of the waste produced could have been composted had there been the infrastructure available.
Currently, recycling is a piecemeal effort on campus and there is no standard system in place for recyclables other than cardboard and paper. In fact, a recent waste characterization of the entire UI campus showed that 38 percent of the total waste the university sends to the landfill is recyclable. This new recycling program will help to reduce our waste stream and in the future can be used as a model to implement a more unified recycling program for more materials across campus.
As with any new program, it is still a work in progress and we will continue to troubleshoot issues and make improvements. We are very happy with the program so far and are grateful for all the support from campus and our key partners. The Sustainability Center would like to say thank you to everyone who made this grant possible, including Joe Hunt and his staff at University Support Services, Andy Boyd at Moscow Recycling, the Environmental Science Department, Facilities and the dedicated members of Environmental Club. And thank you for participating next time you are in the Dome, doing your part to help make recycling the norm on the UI campus.
Emily Rankin can be reached at