Pallets Recycled in New CSUN Program

A Cal State Northridge student recycling program has added an innovative twist in its efforts to avoid creating garbage.

Through the Associated Students Recycling Program, damaged wood pallets are being recycled and used to receive food items, books and supplies delivered to the university.

The pallets provide a platform on which handlers can stack materials for delivery to university warehouses.

A Pico Rivera recycling company pays the Associated Students at least 60 cents per damaged pallet. The company then fixes the pallets and sells them for reuse.

Though the concept is not exactly a new one (similar programs have existed among major airlines for years), the CSUN program represents an idea in recycling that never gets old, said Joan Edwards, director of the Los Angeles City Integrated Solid Waste Management Office.

Edwards and her office helped the CSUN students set up their program.

With 11% of Los Angeles-area landfill material consisting of some kind of wood, Edwards’ office has asked major waste producers such as CSUN to incorporate programs reducing the volume of wood items found in their trash bins.

“Our first concern is, simply, to try to not make garbage,” Edwards said. “People should reuse an item until all of its uses have been eliminated.”

“The larger facilities can generally recycle at no net cost,” Edwards said. “They can also find themselves able to save on waste-hauling fees because, suddenly, they no longer need haulers to take away so many trash bins.”

In essence, Edwards said, companies with effective programs can get recycling companies to pick up for free what once was considered trash.

Or, as in the case of CSUN, recycling programs can earn a profit. With an annual budget of about $10,000 for recycling efforts and education, the Associated Students collected more than $300 from the new program during its first month of operation.

“The money we gain will go toward educating students on the importance of recycling,” recycling coordinator Cyndi Signett said.

“A lot of the challenge in running a program on this campus has to do with the fact that we are dispersed through such a large area. It takes effort to run it, and we don’t always have the people to collect from the bins we have placed in every (university) office.”

With all the construction stemming from the school’s earthquake recovery efforts, the new program may not have much of an impact on the overall amount of waste coming out of CSUN. But Edwards said that its intention is laudable.

“The key to the program,” she said, “is that the school is focusing on reusing items, which means that it will take that much longer for them to reach the landfills.”