For St. Ambrose University recycling is no longer ‘an option but a responsibility’

By Alma Gaul | Sunday, March 23, 2008

Recycling will come to Davenport’s St. Ambrose University this fall in a coordinated, institutionwide way, thanks to a $32,000 grant from the Scott County Regional Authority, funding that was secured through an initiative spearheaded by Katie Voelliger, a senior from Bettendorf.

“It bothers me that students throw away so much stuff — water bottles and paper — and it’s always bothered me that we (St. Ambrose) never had a campuswide recycling program,” said Voelliger, the editor of the student newspaper.

She and three other students — Greg Geistkemper, the president of the Student Government Association, Adam Cahill, the vice president of the association, and Adam Hurlburt of the campus environmental club — approached the administrative staff about applying for a grant and the staff took it from there.

Along with about $20,000 worth of in-kind support from the university, the grant will pay for recycling bins for paper, cardboard, tin, plastic and aluminum in residential and office areas, as well as the purchase of a baler for waste generated by dining services.

“Recycling can no longer be considered an option but a responsibility,” Voelliger said.

Elsewhere on campus, Jim Hannon, the physical plant director, does what he can to be more environmentally conscious, including switching to more efficient light bulbs and using Green Seal-certified cleaning products.

Cahill thinks the university is on the right track, but he would like to see even more: the development of an institutionwide strategic plan, greater use of post-consumer-waste paper, the purchase of hybrid vehicles, and the collection and composting of food waste.

Other initiatives include:

-- A new multipurpose hall under construction at the corner of Gaines and Lombard streets is being built to high energy-efficient standards, including energy-efficient windows and lighting, and water-saver faucets. All told, the “energy bundle” will qualify for a rebate from MidAmerican Energy Co., Hannon said.

-- Nineteen retention tanks — including seven at the new building — have been buried underground to capture and hold 45,000 gallons of storm runoff. There also is a small prairie planting plot to help control stormwater.

-- An academic minor in environmental studies is offered.

-- Hannon is investigating the possibility of using waste vegetable oil from the dining services kitchen to help fuel some of the university’s landscape equipment.

The Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant, coordinator of the environmental studies minor and known for his environmental ethics stance, said he would like to see a campus ban on plastic water bottles.

“It’s an obscenity,” he said.

The widespread use of water bottles has been criticized globally because the plastic containers are petroleum-based and a lot of energy is used to both transport and store them.

To read the other stories in the series