Athens Apartment Complexes and Recycling- Do the two Co-exist?

By: Sophie Loghman

When more than 30,000 undergraduates flock to the Classic City each fall, they generate much more than academic excellence. They also create waste—and lots of it. But are students getting the opportunity to recycle off-campus?

Area-wide recycling efforts are already in place to tackle student waste on campus and in
residential neighborhoods, but eco-measures are often left to individual tenants in area apartment complexes.

909 Broad, one of the newer apartment complexes here in Athens, has an on-site recycling center.

“We encourage our residents to recycle and a lot of people actually do,” Jessica Lee, leasing consultant at 909 Broad Apartments, said. “I see a lot of people recycling; the bins are always full.”

909 Broad Apartments also has a trash compactor and water-efficient showers. While many newer residents implement eco-friendly systems, some older ones have yet to develop “green” programs.

Neither the Reserve nor River Club Apartments, which are both older than 909 Broad Apartments, have a recycling center on their properties.

However, The Reserve may see a recycling center its near future.

“We’ve looked at getting one but haven’t because of money,” Greg Kearney, marketing director at The Reserve, said. “But we do use energy saving light bulbs and we have recycling bins at the club houses.”

Although The Reserve does not have a recycling center, the complex does have recycling bins in their clubhouses and it uses energy saving light bulbs in all the rooms.
Andrew Lentini, recycling coordinator for the University, sees many hurdles to incorporating eco-friendly initiatives at local apartment complexes.

“Multi-family recycling is really, really hard because of the turn over of tenants,” Lentini said. “So you’re constantly having to re-educate.”

He also anticipates staff objections because “they don’t necessarily want to give up a parking spot for a recycling center.”

Even if a center was added, he believes that some non-eco-minded people would dump their trash into recycling bins if the trash bin was full.

Lentini has noticed an annual increase in the number of students on campus wanting to recycle, though. In August, there were 441 tons of trash and of that, 318 tons were recycled. Most items recycled were cardboard, bottles, cans and mixed paper items.

On campus, there are multiple recycling drop-off locations including Bolton, Oglethorpe, Snelling, East Campus Dining Commons and University Village. These are open daily around the clock.

Students living in neighboring residential areas can take part in Athens-Clarke County’s municipally-operated, curbside- recycling program, the first in the state of its kind. With this curbside program, people can leave their recyclables outside their apartments or houses to be picked up. Since the establishment of this program over 10 years ago, recycling efforts have increased.

According to the Athens-Clarke County Solid Waste Department annual recycling report, there was a 12 percent increase in the amount of recycled materials delivered from June 2007 to June 2008.

Natalie Busse, a junior biology major who lives downtown is passionate about recycling, but is not provided with recycling bins at her apartment. However, she finds a way to dispose of her reusable wastes. Her roommates and her set aside recyclables and drive to the recycling center weekly.

Not having a recycling center nearby does not stop her from doing her part to help the environment.