University Times

Sony Rane, marketing and sustainability coordinator for Dining Services, left, and Will Mitchell, Facilities Management’s senior manager of custodial services, demonstrated their commitment to recycling as part of a trash audit conducted Feb. 7 in Schenley Quad. Sustainability-minded staff and student volunteers, some in hazmat suits, separated samplings of campus trash to sort out what could have been recycled, what was compostable and what actually belonged in the garbage.

Their public display of trash-picking was designed to raise awareness for recycling opportunities as part of the Pittsburgh campus’s participation in the 2012 Recycle-Mania competition, which runs through March 31.

“Unfortunately, students are not aware of what they’re putting in the trash,” Rane said, noting that a large portion of items that ended up in campus garbage could have been composted or recycled.

Mitchell said the trash audit provided an opportunity to examine the potential for boosting recycling in campus offices, dormitories and food service areas.