Solid Waste and Recycling at Ohio University

Page by: Gabrielle Radik

 

Solid Waste and Recycling at Ohio University Page by: Gabrielle Radik Objectives What Happens to Our Trash? Data  Data Sources Data Quality Campus Carbon Calculator Input Results Waste Reduction: Recycling and Reclamation Focus on 2001 Compost Plans Recommendations

 

 

Objectives

 

Trash is piled into landfills all over the country, which are rapidly running out of space in populated areas. As trash degrades, it releases greenhouse gases, primarily methane (CH4) into the atmosphere. Methane is 4 times more insulating than carbon dioxide (CO2). Solid waste forms Source 3 emissions, meaning that the emissions are released as a result of our actions, but they are released after the source material has left campus.

 

Ohio University pays roughly $2.50/yd3 for the privilege of filling a landfill, emitting enough methane to be equivalent to thousands of tons of CO2. I decided to investigate what waste reduction techniques we are using to mitigate our landfill contributions, including recycling, reclamations, and compost.

 

 

What Happens to Our Trash?

 

Our generic "trash" is collected and brought to the Athens-Hocking Reclamation Center. This is a sanitary landfill operated by Kilbarger Construction, Inc, located just north of Nelsonville. Trash is compressed and buried, with a waterproof shell under the entire landfill to prevent things leaching into the aquifer and public water supply. Like most rural areas, this facility does not use methane flaring or collection.

 

 

Generic, recognizable recyclable materials such as cardboard and #2 plastics are collected by the Athens-Hocking Recycling Center. There they are further sorted and stored until being sold as raw materials to a manufacturing facilities. A small, local business, Athens-Hocking Recycling collects trash that otherwise would have gone to the landfill, and sells it to people that can make use of it, bringing money into the area and creating local jobs. This does not apply directly to the Campus Carbon Calculator, but any raw materials taken from recycling is raw materials that did not have to be mined, cut, or synthesized, and prevents pollution.

 

OU Campus Recycling coordinates collection of trash and recycling, and collects many other things from campus solid waste for separate treatment, preventing hundreds of tons of trash each year from reaching the landfill.

 

The OU campus power plant burns coal year-round, producing thousands of tons of ash. Rather than being sent to the landfill, this ash is used by the City of Athens to pave roads and to mix with salt for icy streets.

 

 

Data 

 

Data Sources

Ed Newman: OU Recycling & Refuse Manager

Dave Hamill: OU Assistant Director of Grounds Maintenance

Ron Chapman: OU Director Of Energy Management

Athens Hocking Reclamation Center

 

Data Quality

Data was provided mostly in the form of paper invoices from various offices. Materials are collected and tracked by many people on campus, and they do not use consistent notation formats or units. Data on various materials for missing years was estimated where possible from adjacent years. Data measured in other units was converted where possible to tons.

 

 

Campus Carbon Calculator Input

 

Landfill and compost data are entered as short tons onto the Input sheet.

 

The Campus Carbon Calculator applies conversion factors and displays resulting emissions data on the CH4 sheet.

 

These values are further converted into carbon dioxide emission equivalences (eCO2) and displayed on the eCO2 summary sheet.

 

eCO2 represents how much CO2 would be needed to have the same insulating effect as the given quantity of another gas. This seems tedious but it allows for more general comparisons. Compost is calculated as an offset, and mitigates our emissions.

 

 

Results

 

This graph displays our landfill contributions and resulting emissions since 1973. Trash is measured in short tons (2000lbs) as per the industry standard, and CH4 is measured in kilograms as supplied by the Carbon Campus Calculator. eCO2 is measured in metric tonnes (1000kg) as per international standard.

 

Ed Newman was hired in 1990 and started the OU Campus Recycling program. Note the reduction in trash sent to the landfill, and in emissions. The Campus Carbon Calculator begins tracking data with fiscal year 1990. In 2003, the methods used to measure our solid waste landfill contributions began changing. I was unable to determine if data is more accurate before or after the change.

 

 

Waste Reduction: Recycling and Reclamation

 

These materials are reclaimed from Ohio University's solid waste. The first column is the generic recyclables collected by Athens-Hocking Recycling Center, recorded in tons. The second two columns are collected by Campus Recycling and reused or processed separately. Some of these materials have toxic components, so there is good incentive to prevent them reaching the landfill. I was able to convert data from the center column into tons, and these numbers are included in my analysis. The volume-to-weight conversion factors I used are here.

 

Collected by AHRC	Collected by CR	Collected by CR
Cardboard	Re-Useables	Fluorescent Bulbs
#1 and #2 Plastic	Textiles	Tyvek Envelopes
Magazines	Scrap Wood	CFC gas
Scrap Metal	Tires	Dining Services Crates
Office Paper	Pallets	Campus Envelopes
Steel	Compost	Books
Aluminum	Carpeting	Intercampus Envelopes
Clear and Brown Glass	Mattresses	Surplus Items
Newspaper	Toner Cartridges	Construction and Demolition Waste
	Motor Oil	Video and Data Tapes
	Packaging Material	CDs, Audio Tapes, and Floppy Disks
	Expanded Polystyrene	Electronic Devices
		Floppy Disks
		Batteries
		Computers, Monitors, and Printers

 

Campus Recycling uses extensive publicity and runs several programs each year to increase recycling awareness and participation among the university community. One such program is RecycleMania, which Ed Newman started as a recycling competition with Miami University. This program was very successful, and each year has grown to include more schools nationwide, reaching 201 participating institutions as of 2007 and earning praise from the EPA.

               

 

Visit the OU Campus Recycling and Refuse website for more information on waste reduction programs and services.

 

Focus on 2001

 

To illustrate the impact of recycling on OU's solid waste, here is a closer look at one year. 2001 was chosen because it had the most comprehensive data set.

 

          

 

All of the ash from the OU power plant (1,945 tons) was used by the City of Athens.

 

OU paid $161,000 to haul trash and $84,000 to haul recycling.

OU would have paid $520,272 to haul ALL of our solid waste as trash (at $2.50/yd3).

 

 

Compost Plans

 

It is estimated that 25% of OU's landfill contribution is biodegradable organic waste. If even half of that could be composted instead, our landfill trash and emissions would significantly decrease. Compost counts as an emissions offset and provides rich soil, which could supply our fertilizer needs. OU received a grant from ODNR in 2007 to build a high-volume composting facility. This is being built at the Ridges and is due to begin processing compost in Summer 2008. The compost-sorting system used at the Baker Center food court will be extended to each dining hall on campus.

 

Each year the composting facility will process:	Each year the composting facility will save:
615 tons of food waste diverted from the landfill	$37,500 in landfill fee savings
260 tons of grounds waste	26,472kg CH4 not emitted
875 total tons composted	609 eCO2 credits prevented
570 tons of compost fertilizer produced	160 offset credits gained

 

        

 

 

Recommendations

 

This section of the Campus Carbon Calculator is complete. All that will be required for the Inventory is annual data entry, which will not be challenging now that the archive data has been entered. To that end we should hire a data entry person to coordinate data collection from many departments, including Campus Recycling. This position would not only keep the Greenhouse Gas Inventory up to date with minimal effort from the University, it could work closely with the campus publicity office to produce positive publicity about OU's environmental efforts.

 

Keep up the good work!