Red, Blue, & Green!

By: Ariel Ladner

The University of Mississippi has improved its sustainability each year and continues to improve with recycling more than just aluminum cans, paper, and plastic.

A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf as a new can in as little as 60 days. A bicycle that has flat tires can be fixed up and needs no gas to function and it helps reserve energy for the environment. That's closed loop recycling at its finest and Ole Miss is well on its way to helping these processes take place.

Plan in action!

On April 16 of this year Ole Miss launched its new plan on recycling. A more broad approach to recycling instead of just aluminum, paper, and plastic. “This program helps recycle E-Waste (electronic wastes) such as ink cartridges and ink toner from printers,” says Jim Morrison, Director of Sustainability at the University of Mississippi. “The recycling of these products will eliminate tons of wastes sent to the landfills from the University as well as put money back into the school for other material needed. “

The new approach to recycling is reducing costs of sending the wastes to the landfills. But there are other ways to recycle and help benefit the environment besides just separating paper and plastic. The University of Mississippi has also started recycling bicycles, cell phones, and batteries.

And this is how we do it!

The recycled bicycles are given to students that have no transportation and need a way to get around the university as well as around Oxford. After the students finish with the bikes they are encouraged to return them so they can be reused again. It’s an easy and efficient way to save money and to contribute to the environment’s safety.

“Refurbishing old abandoned bikes not only helps out students who need transportation, but it also helps keep the environment cleaner with less pollution involved.“ Morrison says. “These are more beneficial alternatives to helping save the university money, too.”

Recycling helps regardless if it’s a small effort or a large effort. Every bit helps the university, the community, as well as the environment.

If you’d like to know more about recycling at the University of Mississippi contact Morrison at recycle@olemiss.edu or if you would like to know about the bicycle recycling visit www.bike.olemiss.edu.

Find out more about Red, Blue & Green at:

http://www.olemiss.edu/green/recycle.html

or at

http://zing.olemiss.edu/green-week-recycling/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbt_Y_jqkE4