May 27, 2010

Used electronics, paint and non-white paper are focus of
summer "Green Your Scene" effort

by Anne Krapfl

Looking to de-clutter your workspace or that long-ignored storage closet? "Green Your Scene," a second cousin to Iowa State's massive "Dump Your Junk" effort of 1993, is a summer collection and recycling program that will focus on three kinds of products:

  • Non-white paper
  • Paint
  • Office electronics

Collection windows

Electronics: June 1-30
Non-white paper: June 14-18
Paint: June 14-July 30

Green Your Scene is coordinated by a 12-member committee representing facilities planning and management, environmental health and safety, central stores and the Live Green initiative. The committee is working with recycling coordinators, building supervisors and custodial teams on details about building collection times and locations. General questions about the program may be directed to committee member Bob Currie, FPM, 4-1875; contact people for the specific products are listed below.

Vice president for business and finance Warren Madden has committed up to $50,000 for the project, primarily to cover disposal fees and additional transportation costs. All ISU departments that receive general university funding from the state may participate in Green Your Scene. Personal used product from home should not be disposed of through this program.

The specifics

Each of the three components has its own collection period.

  • Paint will be collected June 14-July 30. All paint, oil-based or latex, in containers or spray cans will be accepted, whether full or partially used. Non-latex paints will be handled as a hazardous material; latex paints will be combined in large drums and transported to a disposal company. Sean Whalen, EHS, 4-2105, is coordinating this component; contact him with questions or to schedule a collection.

    Employees who want to dispose of paint from home are reminded that there are regional collection facilities for household hazardous waste. In Story County, contact the Ames Resource Recovery Plant, in Boone County the Boone County Landfill, and in Polk County the Metro Waste Authority.

  • Non-white paper, including journals, books, catalogs, magazines, colored paper and phonebooks, will be collected June 14-18 and recycled with International Paper in Des Moines. Three-ring plastic binders should be removed, and all items or loose paper must be in boxes. Newsprint, white paper and any documents containing confidential information, for which the university has ongoing, separate programs, are not part of this special collection.

    To request this service, departments are asked to contact their building supervisor or building recycling coordinator, who will help organize a collection date for the building.

    Questions about the mixed paper recycling may be directed to Sue Mallas, FPM, 4-0692.

  • Electronics will be collected June 1-30. Iowa State is participating for the second time in the Apple computer company's free education recycling program. In 2007, the university sent 59 pallets (nearly 64,000 pounds) of used electronics equipment to Apple for environmentally acceptable recycling.

    The list of Apple-eligible equipment this summer includes (any brand): computers (desk or laptop), monitors, printers, fax machines, scanners, desktop-size copy machines, CD drives, external drives, televisions, VCRs, projectors, overhead projectors, cables, keyboards and mice. Other accepted items under the university program include cell phones, PDAs, DVD players, DVDs and CDs.

    Refrigeration appliances, including unused or inefficient refrigerators, coolers and freezers, also are included. Any items purchased with federal funds are not eligible for this program.

    Central processing units (CPUs) will be accepted but not included in the Apple recycling program. The hard drives will be cleaned, following university procedures for security. Some likely will make it into the ISU surplus sales warehouse; others will be recycled by the university.

    An excess property disposal form is required for items with an ISU inventory number. The form is available on central stores' website (click on "inventory control" in the left column, then "excess property form").

    Questions about electronics recycling may be directed to Mark Ludwig, ISU surplus, 4-7300; or Norm Hill, central stores, 4-5752.