UCRRA is both a recycling facility and a transfer station. This means that some materials are recycled on site while others are transported to a landfill or another recycling facility. Once the trash arrives at UCRRA it is put back on a truck and travels 25o miles to the nearest landfill! That’s a long distance for something to be put in a landfill and the UCRRA can have anywhere from 9 to 15 trucks of trash a day depending on the time of year. The other component of transporting is single-stream recycling. This type of recycling combines all recycling (paper, plastic, cardboard, aluminum, etc.) into one receptacle. There are both benefits and consequences to this type of recycling; one positive outcome is the recycling rates usually rise after single-stream is introduced but a negative outcome is people sometimes throw trash into the bin which contaminates the entire bin and none of the contents can be recycled. The UCRRA does not have the capabilities to process single-stream recycling so is it shipped off to the Albany recycling facility.

The sorting process at UCRRA is fascinating. The commingle recyclables come through on a conveyor belt and are first inspected to make sure all of the items are actually recyclable. Then there is a large magnet which attracts the steel cans and places them in a separate bin. The recyclables continue on to be sorted by their plastic number so there is a bin for each number 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7. These are sorted by workers at UCRRA and finally the aluminum cans are actually repelled by a large magnet into their own bin. After everything is sorted into their proper bin the contents are condensed into large bails which can then be easily transported. The bails all look about the same size but actually weigh out very different. A bail of cardboard weighs about 1400 pounds, plastics are about 1200 pounds a bail, aluminum weighs around 900 pounds a bail and steel weighs about 1200 pounds per bail! The bails are sorted by their contents are then are shipped once they have a full truckload to a facility that re-purposes the goods.

Along the way we learned some fun facts such as:

• Most of the recycling comes from commercial facilities, not residential, and this includes hospitals, schools, and office buildings.
• 159 tons of trash a year are travel through UCRRA.
• 73.911 tons of recycling are processed each year by UCRRA.
• This creates a rate of about 32% of waste is recycled.

Later on that day, Recycling Club hosted its 3rd Annual Earth Day Carnival! The carnival featured games such as biodegradable breakdown, Plinko, Recycling Never Have I ever, and a trivia game. We also had a few activity booths where people could get their face painted, plant a flower or vegetable, get their nails painted, or make a craft out of recycled materials. The materials for the craft table came from old cds and magazine paper which combined to make beautiful window decorations and jewelry. Some of the prizes we raffled off were t-shirts, pencil pouches made from Kool-Aid drink pouches, a Burt’s Bees Kit, tote bags, a Brita filter, a gift card to Moxie Cupcake and more! Our grand prize was a bicycle.

The carnival was a success and thank you to all who helped or came out to play the games!

To see pictures from this event go and like “New Paltz Recycles” or follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150689211532750.395038.195052437749&type=1

The carnival is from 5pm to 7pm on the Student Union Concourse (or if the weather is still rainy and windy SU 62/63). There will be fun games, free food, and great prizes! The event is FREE so come by and play some games and bring your friends!

I’m sure this year’s Earth Day Carnival will be the best one yet and YOU CAN WIN A BIKE!

See you there!

This year has been the most exciting RecycleMania competition SUNY New Paltz has ever participated in! The recycling rates were double what they were last year! Each residence hall held programs inspired by the tournament and really helped to make RecycleMania such a success this year. I want to thank everyone who participated, recycled, and encouraged others to recycle. Each person contributes to RecycleMania by recycling even one plastic bottle and the numbers from this year really show how much recycling is recognized on the SUNY New Paltz campus.

SUNY New Paltz recycled 45,268.7 pounds of material during the 2012 RecycleMania Tournament!!

Week 8 Recycling Rates for All Residence Halls:

1st place: Scudder Hall with 2.96*

2nd place: Bevier Hall with 2.76*

3rd place: Lenape Hall with 2.73*

4th place: Capen Hall with 2.63*

5th place: DuBois Hall with 2.61*

6th place: College/Shango Hall with 2.55*

7th place: Esopus Hall with 2.45*

8th place: Deyo Hall with 2.25*

9th place: Bliss Hall with 2.12*

10th place: Gage Hall with 2.07*

11th place: Bouton Hall with 2.06*

12th place: LeFevre Hall with 1.90*

13th place: Crispell Hall with 1.76*

FINAL RECYCLEMANIA SCORES FOR THE RESIDENCE HALLS:

1st place: Scudder Hall with 2.94*

2nd place: Lenape Hall with 2.56*

3rd place: College/ Shango Hall with 2.41*

4th place: Capen Hall with 2.29*

5th place: Bevier Hall with 2.25*

6th place: Esopus Hall with 2.21*

7th place: DuBois Hall with 2.20*

8th place: Bliss Hall with 2.11*

9th place: LeFevre Hall with 1.93*

10th place: Deyo Hall with 1.90*

11th place: Bouton Hall with 1.78*

12th place: Crispell Hall with 1.77*

13th place: Gage Hall with 1.75*

*=pounds per person

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT: Recycling Club will once again be having the Earth Day Carnival! The carnival will take place on April 23rd from 5pm to 7pm on the Student Union Concourse. There will be fun games, popcorn, cotton candy, and great prizes and IT’S ALL FREE! So invite your friends and come celebrate the Earth with us!

Here is the Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/209735612463669/

And don’t forget to like the “New Paltz Recycles” fan page for more updates!

1st place: Scudder Hall with 3.798*!

2nd place: Lenape Hall with 3.085*

3rd place: DuBois Hall with 3.071*

4th place: College/Shango with 2.887*

5th place: LeFevre Hall with 2.630*

6th place: Capen Hall with 2.480*

7th place: Bevier Hall with 2.473*

8th place: Bouton Hall with 2.416*

9th place: Esopus Hall with 2.388*

10th place: Bliss Hall with 2.179*

11th place: Deyo Hall with 2.165*

12th place: Crispell Hall with 1.993*

13th place: Gage Hall with 1.894*

RecycleMania Week 6:

1st place: Scudder Hall with 2.919*

2nd place: Lenape Hall with 2.709*

3rd place: Bevier Hall with 2.573*

4th place: Capen Hall with 2.557*

5th place: Esopus Hall with 2.431*

6th place: College/Shango with 2.388*

7th place: DuBois Hall with 2.150*

8th place: Deyo Hall with 2.137*

9th place: Bliss Hall with 2.054*

10th place: Gage Hall with 2.007*

11th place: Bouton Hall with 1.964*

12th place: Crispell Hall with 1.880*

13th place: LeFevre Hall with 1.859*

Sorry for the delay! The fun announcement is Recycling Club will be having the Earth Day Carnival again this year! It will be on Monday April 23rd from 5pm to 7pm. This carnival will have lots of environmentally themed games and some really great prizes and it’s free!

*=pounds per person

Killing Weeds: Instead of using harsh chemicals you can easily kill weeds by pouring hot water on them. Another alternative is combining white vinegar with a pinch of salt and liquid dish soap to create a weed killer. Also, by strategically planting your garden you can naturally repel pests, certain plants function as a weed repellent.

Here are the scores for Week 4 of RecycleMania:
1st place is Scudder Hall with 3.088*
2nd place is College/Shango Hall with 2.837*
3rd place is Lenape Hall with 2.750*
4th place is Capen Hall with 2.631*
5th place is Bliss Hall with 2.406*
6th place is Bevier Hall with 2.375*
7th place is Esopus Hall with 2.354*
8th place is Deyo Hall with 2.311*
9th place is Crispell Hall with 2.277*
10th place is DuBois Hall with 2.173*
11th place is LeFevre Hall with 2.014*
12th place is Bouton Hall with 1.856*
13th place is Gage Hall with 1.821*
*=pounds per person

Each week is a new beginning and keep up the recycling!

First, by putting on full loads of laundry instead of half full or even just a few items in the washer saves energy, water, and time. By having full loads of laundry you will spend less time doing laundry and with less loads comes less water and electricity being used.

When deciding on which setting to put the washing machine on (cold/cold, warm/cold, hot/cold, etc.) it is best to use the coldest setting. The coldest setting uses less energy because there is no heating of the water. The added advantage of turning on the cold setting is clothes will last longer and stay bright in color. Instead of changing the setting on the washing machine you could use a stain remover on clothing beforehand.

After washing clothing the next step is the dryer. Most people in America use an electronic dryer to dry their clothing but that is not necessary. There are many inexpensive drying racks for clothing available at local stores. By drying your clothing on a drying rack you are saving loads of electricity and the clothes come out the same as they would with an electronic dryer! 

And now for the Week 3 scores for RecycleMania!

1st place: Scudder Hall with 3.422*

2nd place: Capen Hall with 3.282*

3rd place: Lenape Hall with 2.983*

4th place: College/Shango with 2.930*

5th place: Bevier Hall with 2.840*

6th place: Bliss Hall with 2.750*

7th place: Esopus Hall with 2.710*

8th place: Dubois Hall with 2.636*

9th place: Lefevre Hall with 2.595*

10th place: Deyo Hall with 2.535*

11th place: Crispell Hall with 2.492*

12th place: Gage Hall with 2.122*

13th place: Bouton Hall with 2.008*

*=pounds of recycling per person

Congratulations to Scudder Hall for winning RecycleMania three weeks in a row! Keep up the good work!

Also, if any halls want any help with programming or anything recycling related then feel free to email me at: newpaltzrecycles@gmail.com

Scores for all the residence halls:
Bevier: 6th place, 2.474*
Bliss: 2nd place, 2.927*
Bouton: 9th place, 2.274*
Capen: 7th place, 2.419*
College/Shango: 4th place, 2.735*
Crispell: 12th place, 2.015*
Deyo: 13th place, 1.921*
Dubois: 11th place, 2.219*
Esopus: 3rd place, 2.792*
Gage: 10th place, 2.256*
Lefevre: 8th place, 2.416*
Lenape: 5th place, 2.626*
Scudder: 1st place, 3.301*
*= pounds per person

Congratulations to Scudder Hall! They have now won Weeks 1 and 2 of RecycleMania but each week is a new beginning!

If you would like to get more involved in RecycleMania then join Recycling Club! We meet on Tuesday nights at 8 in SU 414.

Here are the scores for all the residence halls for Week 1 of RecycleMania:

1st place- Scudder with 3.409*
2nd place- Lenape with 3.366*
3rd place- College/Shango with 2.866*
4th place- Dubois with 2.818*
5th place- Esopus with 2.644*
6th place- Bliss with 2.615*
7th place- Bevier with 2.563*
8th place- Lefevre with 2.399*
9th place- Capen with 2.361*
10th place- Gage with 2.349*
11th place- Crispell with 2.307*
12th place- Deyo with 2.251*
13th place- Bouton with 2.188*
*= pounds of recycling per person

Every week is a new beginning so keep on recycling!

 
Composting is the act of taking food scraps, yard clippings and other organic waste and combining it to create humus which is a natural fertilizer. The food scraps and other materials when combined decompose together in a pile or in a large machine and when they break down the resulting product has a high amount of nutrients which are perfect for gardening. Even in the dead of winter the middle of a compost pile is actually very hot because of the gases released in the process of decomposition.

 
In Hasbrouck Dining Hall the food scraps are scraped from the plates into 55 gallon barrels lined with biodegradable, compostable bags. Leftover food prep scraps from fruit, vegetables, and meat are placed in composting bins. Also included in the compost are liquids such as milk or soups. Hasbrouck does everything they can to freeze the leftovers to serve again but still food waste is produced from food scraps and liquids. Hasbrouck has also just started a food recovery program to donate the leftover food to Queens Galley, a local soup kitchen, in Kingston. Even more green composting bins are seen behind where the food is served which when all combined creates an environment geared towards composting as much as possible. Hasbrouck feeds about 3,000 people every day and 800 to 1,000 pounds of food waste is produced every day! On Sunday and Monday the dining hall typically composts about 16 barrels of food waste. Royal Recycling are the haulers that take away the composting to Greenway, a composting facility in Poughkeepsie, and they come six days a week to transport the food waste.

 
Taking a tour of the composting in practices was great and it is plainly seen how hard the dining hall is working to compost as many food waste as possible. The whole facility has an environmentally friendly mindset and while I was taking the tour I saw many dining hall workers actively putting food scraps into green composting bins.

To see pictures of this behind the scenes tour please go to: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150525150427750.373625.195052437749&type=1 and don’t forget to “like” New Paltz Recycles while you’re there!