By Victoria Durgin, Editor in Chief
A new recycling program and the exit of the director are two of the biggest sustainability changes coming to campus this fall.
Former Assistant Director of Sustainability Derek Martin left Susquehanna in August to become Sustainability Programs Director at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In the lead up to his departure, Martin spent the summer executing changes to on-campus recycling that were proposed by students during the spring semester.
“We recognized [recycling] was, on campus, an imperfect system,” Martin said.
“We conducted interviews, spoke to relevant stakeholders, and just sat down and watched people use our recycling bins across campus.”
What Martin and several students found, he said, was inconsistency in containers for recycling and a lack of understanding of what exactly could be recycled.
“Many of the bins on campus were being used incorrectly, and things weren’t able to be recycled,” junior Calli Lambard said. Lambard was one of the students who worked on the project.
To combat this, Martin spent the summer purchasing new bins to replace canisters throughout campus. Now, he said, all bins marked for recycling will be identical and provide consistent, clear information on what can be recycled and what cannot.
“We are hoping that having everything next to each other and labelled helps students better understand what can and cannot be recycled,” said Grant Rowe, a junior who worked on the project.
The amount of materials that can be recycled has also changed. Susquehanna, through funds provided by the Student Government Association (SGA), signed a three-year agreement with Selinsgrove-based Hometown Disposal to handle all recycling services. Hometown Disposal previously serviced 18th Street, but not the rest of campus.
According to Hometown Disposal, plastics 1-7 and various types of paper and cardboard can now be recycled.
Rowe said this single-stream plastics recycling includes objects like Starbucks cups and multiple varieties of plastic packaging.
“My work in the [Sustainability] office has empowered me to share my knowledge about sustainability with others so that they can hopefully make a difference too,” Lambard said.
The new recycling bins are not the only sustainability initiative set for the fall, even as the Office of Sustainability will be without its leader until a replacement can be hired.
“While I’ll be gone, I think we’ll still have a full calendar of stuff to do,” Martin said.
The campus garden will operate as usual, and so will the terracycling project.
The office will also host a speaking series focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in conjunction with Bridges 2030, which works to promote the SGDs and was founded by Susquehanna alumnus Fernando Ramirez.
Martin said Susquehanna will partner with Lehigh University and other colleges with the goal of building a coalition of universities centered on promoting sustainability initiatives.
The ability of the office—and the student workers within it—to continue to function in his absence might be the most tangible marker of Martin’s legacy at Susquehanna.
Martin came to Susquehanna in January 2018 and said he was at first nervous at the prospect of forging a new path on campus.
“I was bracing for the worst at first, because change is always hard for people,” Martin said, “but I have been blown away by the support and willingness to listen and learn from faculty and staff and students here.”
A replacement to fill the assistant director role has not yet been hired, but students will continue the work until one can be found.