Winneshiek County Solid Waste Agency awards $1,000 grant to Luther College

The Winneshiek County Solid Waste Agency has awarded a $1,000 grant to Luther College to support recycling efforts on campus.

Luther students Callie Mabry and Bekah Schulz, who graduated in May, wrote the grant proposal before leaving campus.  "The objective is to divert more waste from the landfill and instill habits that will continue throughout the rest of students' time at Luther and after they graduate," Mabry said.

A sustainability waste audit conducted in 2011 revealed that 45.9 percent of the waste in the dumpster outside of Brandt Hall was non-landfill material.
After holding focus groups and surveying 156 Brandt residents, Mabry and Schultz discovered the biggest barrier to recycling was a lack of convenience.  63 percent of the students surveyed indicated that they would be more likely to recycle if Luther provided each room its own bin.

The grant from the Winneshiek County Solid Waste Agency, along with money from the Luther College Sustainability Grant Fund, will purchase recycling containers for every dorm room in Brandt as well as the residence hall's bathrooms, laundry rooms and study areas.
 
The sustainability office recently worked in collaboration with Terry Buenzow at the Winneshiek County Recycling Department to order the bins. Over the summer Luther Energy and Waste Fellow Jamie Stallman will work to label and distribute bins to each room in Brandt Hall. He will also be responsible for further educating first-year students about recycling.

The effectiveness of the added bins in Brandt Hall will be monitored throughout the 2014-15 academic year.  The college will eventually look to incorporate a similar program into other residence halls.

"This pilot program is a small step in creating convenience in recycling that could lead to big changes in the way students view recycling and how they will continue sustainable efforts after they leave Luther," said Luther College sustainable foods educator Maren Stumme-Diers.