At OCC’s Campus Recycling Center, Trash Is Turned Into Scholarships

To a 5-year-old, $7.50 is hitting pay dirt.

So when Robert Bandaruk showed up at the Orange Coast College Recycling Center with his mother, younger brother and three bags of aluminum cans, he began dreaming of all he could buy.

“A car!” he said, before running off giggling past the tubs of plastic milk jugs.

Robert may not realize that $7.50 is barely enough for a few gallons of gas these days, but his environmental instincts are ahead of his age. He persuaded his mother, Cynthia Bandaruk, to begin a family recycling program after watching his grandmother start her own.

Though there are facilities closer to their Fountain Valley home, the Bandaruks opted to take their recyclables to Costa Mesa.

“There’s this other center, but you load all the cans in one at a time. You can’t do that with two kids,” Cynthia Bandaruk said. “This is so easy. It’s way convenient.”

But that’s not the only thing that makes the OCC Recycling Center unique.

For one, it donates its revenue toward scholarships for OCC students. Last year, the center earned more than $18,000.

And unlike many one-man recycling operations, the center has 12 student employees who help unload, weigh and process recyclables.

“It’s like a family here,” said employee Phuoc Ly, 22.

The air is faintly putrid -- as expected -- but the crew is too busy to notice. They sort 450 tons of paper, cardboard, plastic containers, scrap metal, bottles and cans every month. One worker’s job consists of removing plastic bottle caps. A mountain of mulch sits in the back.

Last week, the center celebrated its 34th year, the longest-running recycling facility in Orange County. It was also one of the first collegiate centers in the state -- UC Berkeley introduced its program around the same time.

The center was born when consumer advocate Ralph Nader visited OCC in 1970 for Earth Day. He implored students to take a stand for environmental causes. One student raised his hand and asked, “What can we as Orange County residents do?” Nader suggested starting a campus recycling drive.

And so they did.

Volunteers began collecting cans, bottles and papers around campus. With the redemption money, they funded a camping trip for underprivileged children. They earned several hundred dollars that semester, enough to buy sleeping bags and food for the campers.

From there, the school got into the recycling habit.

“Students and staff just got so accustomed to it, the program just snowballed from there,” said director Michael Carey, who began as the center’s intern in 1985. Most of the student workers don’t envision a career in ecology, but said they have become more environmentally savvy.

“I have no shame in working for a recycling center. We’re all doing this for a good reason,” said Mary Bowers, a cashier and secretary. “This is the most worthwhile job I’ve had.”

Today, the plant sits on the edge of campus along Adams Avenue. Nearly 400 people bring in their recyclables on any given day. And being on a college campus doesn’t hurt: Environmentally conscious students coupled with water bottles and beer cans make for a large chunk of the drop-offs. Saturday seems to be the busiest.

But the center is not just benefiting Mother Nature.

Some years ago, Carey recalled, a young man approached the center about doing community service after he was cited for driving without insurance.

He loved the work so much, he asked Carey for a part-time job.

Carey extracted a pledge: If the man took classes at OCC, Carey would let him join the recycling staff. The man enrolled, got the job and became student body president at the college.

Carey appreciates the cliche: It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it -- and he couldn’t be happier it’s him and his crew.

“It’s not a very glamorous job digging through people’s trash,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we feel we’ve accomplished something good and worthwhile for society.”