Capstone Students Seek to Increase Multi-Stream Recycling on Campus
By Sophie Lange, Staff Writer
Plastic Amazon and shipping bags recycling bin in CUB installed by environmental studies capstone students (Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)
Ethan Bruemmer ’23 and Sam Arkin ’23 set up four recycling bins in CUB to collect plastic shipping bags as a part of their environmental studies (ES) senior capstone with Chairperson and Professor of Environmental Studies Sarah Principato. In addition to studying ES, Bruemmer and Arkin have majors in English and political science, respectively.
According to Arkin, “We know that the [college] uses single-stream recycling, and we wanted to attempt some formulation of multi-stream recycling. Both of us studied abroad in Norway where multi-stream recycling was successfully used.”
Arkin and Bruemmer chose to use shipping bags as their desired recycling material as it gave them a specific product that was easily marketed. From there, they placed the bins around CUB, and with help from Post Office Supervisor Nick Pogasic in the mailroom, they have been collecting data on how many packages have been picked up and how much packaging has been placed in the bins.
They have collected data on the amount and type of “contamination.” They stated that contamination occurs when items and materials that are not eligible for the “bag and film” recycling bins, are placed into them regardless. Using statistics, they plan to model each bin’s contents using the data collected throughout the project.
“Because we are collecting every Wednesday and Saturday, we are recording each date collected as its own value point. Continuously, we are comparing the correct product [and] contamination between bins. One of our main focuses will be the comparison between the mailroom packages handed out and the abundance of packages we collect,” Arkin explained.
They hypothesized that over a given time period, they will be able to increase the number of items recycled at Gettysburg College through their collection of discarded packaging. As of now, their goal is to recycle between five and ten percent of all eligible packaging.
They also said that they expect a significant amount of variation between the bins due to the amount of recyclable material collected and improper materials discarded.
Bruemmer and Arkin said they hope that campus-wide advocacy for their recycling campaign will raise awareness and increase the usage of their bins.
