ZeroWaste taking more e-junk

Nicholas Maronese
Editor-in-Chief
A funeral home might not care your batteries have died, but York’s ZeroWaste program does.
The recycling initiative, which began this past July, is expanding the number of e-waste disposal sites – places where you can dump old computers, printers and batteries – on campus to more than 50 bins.
“We’ve been collecting e-waste for a while,” said Bob Smith, York’s director of custodial services. “At least 15 years, maybe 20. But now we’ve decided to advertise that to the community.”
He says that while he cannot offer any hard numbers yet, he has seen a rise in the use of composting and recycling bins, which were installed as part of the ZeroWaste initiative. “It seems to me the community has totally embraced the program, especially the students,” Smith offered, noting many campus groups have asked to have the recycling bins installed in place of their garbage cans.
Others, however, have found there is still some apathy among community members.
“There were some complaints in the beginning, but I think most people have adjusted in their own way,” says Cecilia Abrusci, a receptionist with Stong College.
She was skeptical of the program at first – particularly with the effort to encourage people to compost their food instead of throwing the leftovers away – but she has come to accept it.
Others, however, have not quite warmed up to it, she’s observed.
“I’ve adjusted, but I think for the people with offices located farther away [from the compost bins], a lot of them are just throwing it into the regular garbage bins whether it’s food or not,” she says.
Smith remains optimistic that when recycling rates are finally compiled at the end of the year, there will have been a huge improvement from previous years.
“I’d have to give it a thumbs-up right now – two thumbs up.”