Recycling In The Dorms:
SUNY Brockport, McFarlane Hall
Victoria Foos
Rozetta Smith
Recycling
 The reprocessing of materials into new
products
 Prevents useful material resources being
wasted
 Reduces the consumption of raw materials
and reduces energy usage, and greenhouse
gas emissions
 Three R’s
 Reduce the amount and toxicity of trash
 Reuse containers and products
 Recycle as much as possible
Reduce
 Waste prevention, or "source reduction,"
consuming and throwing away less
 seeking products and packaging that are as free of toxics as
possible
 purchasing durable, long-lasting goods
 redesigning products to use less raw material in production, or
be used again after its original use
 Prevents the generation of waste in the first place
most preferred method of waste management
goes a long way toward protecting the environment
Reuse
 Repairing items
 Donating to charity and community
groups
 Selling items
also reduces waste
Reusing products is better than recycling
because the item does not need to be
reprocessed before it can be used again
Recycle
 Turns materials that would otherwise become
waste into valuable resources
 Generates a host of environmental, financial,
and social benefits
 Materials like glass, metal, plastics, and paper
are collected, separated and sent to facilities
that can process them into new materials or
products
(“Reduce…”)
Researching
 Questioned Maintenance about recycling
in the dorms
 Most years recycling is a major problem
 Residents uneducated on what to recycle
 Males recycle less than females
 Conducted survey
Survey
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Do you know what materials can be
recycled in the dorms?
Do you use the recycling bin provided for
you?
Did your Resident Assistant inform you
about recycling at the beginning of the
year
Do you leave your bin out for collection
every week
Do you feel that the lack of recycling in
the dorms is a problem
Do you feel that recycling tends to be a
hassle
Floors vs. floors
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Question
yes
no
yes
no
yes
no
1
13
3
16
1
20
3
2
7
9
17
0
18
5
3
13
3
11
6
14
9
4
4
12
17
0
12
11
5
4
12
8
9
6
17
6
3
13
4
13
4
19
Males vs. females
Males
Females
Question
yes
no
yes
no
1
23
5
26
2
2
16
12
26
2
3
22
6
16
12
4
9
19
24
4
5
8
20
10
18
6
6
22
5
23
Hypothesis
If we get the residents in McFarlane
involved in a contest, the amount of
recycling will increase within the dorms
Objectives
 Determine how educated people are on recycling
overall by survey
 Make residents start thinking about recycling/problems
involved
 Get students active in recycling
 Get RA’s more involved depending on response from
residents at conclusion of survey
 Win a pizza party because Victoria lives on the second
floor of McFarlane
 Determine whether gender has anything to do with
recycling trends
Methodology
 McFarlane Hall, SUNY College at
Brockport, Brockport, NY
 Conducted Wednesday 25 April 2007 –
Wednesday 2 May 2007
 Materials
 Flyers
 Fish hook scale
 Large garbage bags
Contest between all floors!!
Starting Wednesday April 25th, collect all of your
plastic and glass bottles and your cartons and
put them outside your door the night of
Tuesday May 1st. The floor with the greatest
weight of recyclables collected on Wednesday
May 2nd, will win a free pizza party…So start
COLLECTING!!!!!
Methodology Cont….
 Talk to maintenance
 2 May 2007, Collect recyclables in plastic
bags (separate by floors)
 Weigh bags
 Determine winners of contest
 Receive Funding
 Give pizza prize to winner
Before vs. After
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Before
4
17
12
After
4
19
21
Weight of Recyclables
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Limitations
 On Floor 2, 11 dorms did not answer and
may have been unaware of the contest
 We heard reports of the 3rd floor stealing
recyclables from the 2nd floor
 Students probably forgot and possibly
should have been reminded
Conclusions
 Floors 3 is the Winner
 Success in objectives
 Our results related to the hypothesis, in that
there was an increase in participation in
recycling when a prize was involved
 More contests in the future = greater results in
recycling
 Spread contest to other dorms and buildings
 Give contest to custodians
Literature Cited
 “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.” Municipal
Solid Waste. U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. 2006
<http://www.epa.gov/msw/reduce.htm>.
RECYCLE