Sustainability at Elmhurst College

Residence Life Initiatives

Recycling Mattresses, Collecting Bottlecaps

Many environmental initiatives on campus start in the College's residence halls. Here is  Residence Life's Year in Review of Contributing, Creating and Learning

RA Sustainability/Stewardship Committee
This committee primarily focused on the structure and rollout of the overall collections program with specific energy directed toward awareness and full participation in the collection efforts (batteries, plastic caps, pop tabs and plastic bags).  The student staff in the Residence Life Office supported the actual counting and weighing of the items.

The 2010-2011 collection results were:
Plastic Bags        15,744 bags             Sent to New Life for Old Bags and made into mats
Batteries             826 (56.25 lbs)        Sent to Creative Recycling Services
Bottlecaps          6,169 (33.74 lbs)      Sent to Creative Recycling
Pop tabs              8,755 (5.64 lbs)      Sent to Ronald McDonald House

The College-Community Electronics Recycling Event
Residence Life sponsored an Elmhurst-wide electronic equipment recycling event on April 6-9.  What enormous piles were collected on College parking lots–more than 28,000 pounds of electronics. It was an outstanding effort by all and a great success for the students involved. Some special thanks are extended to: Andrea Poplawski ’14 (City Council attendance), Linda Kang ’13 and Nicole Perry ’12 (poster distribution), Chris Kirkpatrick ’13 and Nick Patterson ’14 (set up and take down), Ethan Escareno ’13 (unloading), Jessie Moyemont ’12 (photography) and the Residence Life office staff.

Mattresses
The College received a Certificate of Recycling from Ohio Mattress and Carpet Recycling for recycling 130 old mattresses.  The steel from the mattresses went to a scrap recycling company; the foam was shredded and used to make recycled carpet padding and sound insulation. The cotton was used for diesel oil filters and for archery targets. As an added bonus, it was more cost effective to recycle to mattresses at $10 each vs. $40 each for landfill disposal.

Bulletin Boards
Continuous bulletin board displays appeared in the halls depicting sustainability-related topics and encouraging participation in activities and programs.

The Green Cup Competition
The Green Cup is an award, sponsored by the Greenjays, which is given to the Residence Hall that shows the greatest reduction in water and electricity usage and solid waste production during the school year.  The 2010-2011 winners were the resident students of Dinkmeyer Hall.