Fairfield’s campus contains more than 30 buildings for academics and instruction, student and Jesuit residence, performing arts, athletics and student activities. All require daily upkeep by various members of the maintenance staff. In recent years, one major area of campus-wide initiatives has gained importance: recycling.
Last fall, faculty, staff and students gathered to propose the paid position of a recycling coordinator here at Fairfield to the University budget committee. The position is currently awaiting budget approval for the next fiscal year, according to Joe Bouchard, fire marshal and safety officer.
“The position has been requested through the University budget committee but their deliberations are on-going, so it will be some time before we know if the position will be funded,” said Ric Taylor, associate vice president of campus planning and operations.
Several faculty members and offices, including Campus Operations, maintain recycling coordination. Yet, recycling is not their primary responsibility and sustainability may not be given the attention it demands.
“Someone needs to be the point person. Someone must steward the initiatives,” said Dina Franceschi, associate professor of economics and one of the individuals involved in current recycling coordination.
Courtney Siegert ’07, president of the Student Environmental Association (SEA), sees value in hiring a recycling coordinator on campus.
“I’m not sure that students outside of SEA seem to understand the dilemma currently faced on campus where the role of a potential director is divided up into many departments across the campus and are not coordinated and therefore are not do not reach the full potential,” she said.
Bouchard said the position, which he views as a 35-hour per week position, must be filled. The selected individual must be able to communicate well with students, faculty and staff and “will need to coordinate all aspects of sustainability,” he said.
Universities nationwide have already recognized the need for a singular, specified role for steering campus-wide recycling.
Richard Miller, director of environmental policy at the University of Connecticut, acknowledges the importance of the recycling coordinator position.
“UConn does not have a single campus recycling coordinator; the function is somewhat dispersed among four or five departments across the university,” said Miller. “From my perspective, this has been a problem, and we’re working on possible solutions. A campus recycling coordinator is the way to go. Yale, Keene State, Cornell and UVM are just a few schools who operate successfully with this model.”
Other institutions are also turning to a student-run position. Alexandria Wojick, a senior at SUNY New Paltz, was hired for the 20-hour per week position.
“A full year after the internship and the first pilot [recycling] program, the professor who had been involved all this time somehow convinced the facilities department to take on a temporary service student as the campus recycling coordinator,” said Wojcik. “As one of the only students still around and actively involved since the internship, I was approached to take on this new role.”
Though Wojcik enjoys her job, she believes there should be a “full-time staff person to oversee the effort.”
Bouchard, Franceshi and Siegert agree that by allowing a student to fill the position, constant re-training due to graduation and scheduling conflicts is inevitable.
Nonetheless, the success of any recycling program depends on the recycling coordinators’ interactions with the student body.
“There’s no way a student program could be successful without increased student participation,” said Bouchard.
Alyssa Ginelli ’09 believes that having a recycling coordinator would improve Fairfield’s image.
“Recycling on campus is important and would help to make it more beautiful,” said Ginelli. “I think overall it is a great idea. If it is worked out properly, it would be great.”
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