Wichita State Univ.

Wichita State University has actively been involved with recycling since 1993. The program began with recycling strictly office paper and has increasingly grown over the years to include not only office paper, but corrugated cardboard, newspaper, phone books, aluminum, plastic, magazines, scrap metal, automotive tires, automotive and industrial batteries, small personal batteries, used oil, antifreeze and freon, construction wood by-products, computers, and yard waste, which is composted and reused on campus as a soil amendment. The University also has a brush chipper capable of chipping limbs up to 4" to 6" in diameter, which is recycled into mulch used around trees and shrub beds eliminating it from being put into the waste stream. The program has made a huge difference in the amount of waste stream that is taken out to the transfer station, run by Waste Connections here in Wichita, Kansas. In Fiscal Year 2006, Wichita State University had a total recycling sum of 157.775 Tons of material, which equated to a cost avoidance in tipping fees at the transfer station of $ 7,257.65. In Fiscal Year 2007, Wichita State University had a total recycling sum of 150.772 Tons of material, which equated to a cost avoidance in tipping fees of $ 7,237.06. Wichita State University continues to expand and refine its recycling program to set an example as a State Institution in doing its part for the environment. Presently Wichita State University is recycling approximately 25% of its total waste generated in a year. All this is being accomplished with just one full time employee running the recycle route around campus.