Waste Characterization Sorting Project

Main Library Waste Sort (November 30)
Student volunteers Approximately 20 students joined the City of Iowa City, City Carton and Facilities Management staff in helping to sort and gather data on the UI waste stream at the Main Library on Friday, November 30, 2007.

The waste sort was part of the larger UI Waste Characterization Sorting Project designed to show how much waste the UI currently sends to the landfill is recyclable. Plastic drink containers are a significant portion of the wastestream. Student leaders are using the data to create a marketing campaign to raise awareness of plastic recycling opportunities and to determine the best locations for plastics recycling bins.

Recently, the UI was selected from more than 1,300 applications to receive a Recycling Bin Grant from the National Recycling Coalition (NRC). The Bin Grant program is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company. The UI request for 300 recycle containers was prepared by Dave Jackson. The NRC assembled a selection committee of recycling professionals to review each of the applications. The committee scored applications based on their likelihood to increase beverage container recycling, the demonstrated need and the ability of applicants to support recycling collections with educational efforts, among other criteria. The notification from the NRC stated, "We received many excellent proposals and found yours in particular to be compelling.” The details for bin style and selections will be discussed with the University, NRC and Coca Cola in the next several weeks.

View Waste Sort Data
YouTube Video of Waste Sort

Participants included:

PI KAPPA PHI Epsilon:Taylor Blazek, Chris Tank, Mike Barranco, Ryan Novak, Greg Horsely, Logan Ashenfelter, Ryan Komendowski, Tony Walt, Blade

UI Leadership Seminar: Matt Swanson, Greg Cogley, Lori Hopper, Mike Mettenburg,

UI Environmental Coalition: Rachel Nathanson, Ben Kaplan

P.O.P "Phasing Out Plastics" - Hubbard Park (November 15)
Waste Sort Hubbard Park University of Iowa students, faculty and staff helped observe America Recycles Day, Thursday, Nov. 15, with "Phasing Out Plastics" (P.O.P.) in Hubbard Park on the UI campus. The P.O.P. exhibition was designed to show how much of the waste the UI currently sends to the landfill is recyclable.

Through the P.O.P exhibition, which sampled five buildings on the UI Pentacrest, the UI estimated that approximately 50 percent of its waste stream may be recyclable.
View Waste Sort Data

P.O.P. was presented cooperatively by the City of Iowa City, Iowa DNR, City Carton Recycling, East Central Iowa Council of Governments (ECICOG), UI Facilities Management and a number of other public and private agencies.

The P.O.P. exhibition spotlighted the UI's Waste Characterization Sorting Project which is exploring ways to reduce the UI's environmental footprint by diverting UI waste from the local landfill. Last year, the UI diverted more than 22 percent of its general waste stream through recycling practices.

The waste characterization project involves a group of UI students, faculty and staff working together to Waste Sort Tables examine the actual composition of the UI waste stream and provide baseline data needed for planning future reduction efforts. The team will coordinate UI recycling data gathering and analysis and create a photo diary of UI waste. By identifying the amounts of key waste components, the UI can target specific recyclable products and the processes to divert them from the landfill, organizers say. Education and marketing campaigns will be created to encourage the campus community to modify disposal behavior. The project is in partnership with the Iowa City Landfill and Recycling Center and ECICOG.

UI Environmental Science students Tim Knab, Ben Kaplan and Rachel Nathanson, members of the UI Student Government and UI Environmental Coalition, are coordinating the project. Other student organizations pledging support for this project are the UI Public Interest Research Group, Engineers for a Sustainable World and Future Physicians for the Environment.

Waste Sort The project is an identified goal of the 2008-2014 Johnson County and regional ECICOG Solid Waste Comprehensive Plan.

Nationally, landfills and solid waste haulers have experienced an explosion in the quantities of plastics going to the landfill in recent years. Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles an hour. P.O.P. is the UI student marketing effort to help improve plastic recycling at Iowa.

Phil Jones (far left), Vice President of Student Services, and Belinda Marner (far right), Assistant Vice President of Student Services, joined students in sorting waste in Hubbard Park November 16 as part of the P.O.P. - Phasing Out Plastics event.

Contact Dave Jackson at or Tim Knab for more information on the
Waste Characterization Sorting Project.

Contact the following UI staff for more information on UI Recycling