By Sean Kranske, Contributing Writer

Since the spring semester of 2015, West Liberty University has gone to great lengths to encourage recycling. Blue bins can be found in every building scattered throughout hallways and classrooms. This semester, WLU is taking this a step further by introducing a new program that involves placing recycling bins in each student dorm room as well.

The program is West Liberty University’s first attempt at integrating such a large recycling program in the residence halls, and it is still in the developing stages. As a result, Krise Hall is currently the only building to offer individual recycling bins. However, the bins will be relocated to the other buildings as well at a later time.

Area Coordinator Luke Tacosik explained, “Thanks to Joe Mills and his maintenance staff delivering the bins we started the recycling program right at the beginning of the semester so each of the residence halls would have an opportunity to have individual recycling bins for a three-week period.”

Moving the bins to each of the five dorm buildings allows a competition to take place between the buildings, and the building that recycles the most will be given a reward of their choosing, courtesy of WFF cleaning services.

“In order to add some incentive to the recycling program, Shelly Klatt, the WFF Director of Custodial Services, was able to secure a $200 donation from the corporate office to put towards whatever the residents of the building would prefer to have such as a pizza party, a ping pong table, or new pool sticks,” Tacosik said.

The winner will be determined based on the number of bags taken from each building. However, because each building varies in size, the number of bags will be divided by the number of students living in the building to assure that the contest is fair.

The new program was established after a conversation between Tacosik and Klatt.

“We believe that there is more that can be done on campus, especially in the residence halls when it comes to recycling,” Tacosik said. “The end goal is to not only recycle more, but also show how easy recycling is.”

Photo credit: Sean Kranske.