Off-Campus Living discusses recycling options
By Emily Smith, CG News
When it comes to recycling, moving from the dorms to a house or apartment can be a big change for students. Without the university providing recycling bins right outside residence halls, students can be left wondering where to take their recyclables.
Barb Harrison, assistant director of Off-Campus Living, and Frances Tosca, a graduate assistant who supervises community assistants, offered information on how to begin recycling off-campus in Athens.
Harrison said that although landlords do not distribute recycling receptacles, the code office, located in the City Building on E. Washington St., does. Citizens can pick up a red bin free of charge to keep at their home.
These bins can be put out with trashcans the evening before pick up, but must be out of view from the street by the end of pickup day, according to the “Getting to Know Athens” guide that the city distributed in August.
Off-Campus Living published a “Survival Guide” to help students adjust as well. According to the guide, Athens citizens can recycle many products. Paper board, such as cereal boxes and egg cartons, are recyclable along with newspaper, office paper, aluminum, cardboard, magazines, plastics, glass and tin.
Number one and two plastics can be recycled, which include: milk jugs, shampoo, and detergent bottles. Clear, brown, and green glass is also accepted. The guide also advises citizens to rinse recyclables and remove the caps from plastic bottles.
To make sorting recyclables easier, Harrison recommends using paper grocery bags to separate the recyclables in personal bins.
Additionally, uptown residents can recycle in centralized collection points behind various businesses such as Court Street Diner, CVS Pharmacy, Art Apocalypse and in between Tony’s Tavern and J Bar.
“Athens is a strong community in regards to recycling,” said Harrison. She said students living off-campus should “put more into the recycling stream.”
Harrison and Tosca said that education is essential to commit more students to recycling on a weekly basis.
Matt Dougherty, a junior at Ohio University majoring in creative writing, is a community assistant who serves as a liaison between on-campus and off-campus students. “Much work needs to be done, especially in terms of educating the average student on what can and cannot be recycled,” he said.
