A dirty napkin or broken bottle no longer spoils an entire recycling bin, thanks to a new process implemented by Waste Management, the company that handles NIU’s trash and recycling.

The Building Services Management Team discussed new recycling program developments at its weekly meeting last Thursday.

Mary Alice Drain, physical plant energy and recycling specialist, explained some key issues facing the recycling program at the university.

Drain brought to the attention of the Building Services Management Team that Waste Management will now sort recycled materials to remove garbage that has been mixed in.

Until now, Building Services employees have been instructed to treat recycling bins that have some garbage in them as contaminated and throw them into a garbage dumpster instead of a recycling dumpster.

“We discovered amazingly during our meeting this morning that Waste Management had formed a department of their own for sorting,” said Debra Bryant, a member of the Building Services Management Team. “It will be exciting to watch the numbers on how much more we’re sending to recycling.”

The recycling program reduces the amount of waste in the garbage, said Mary Jo Marshall, Waste Management utilities director. This results in the dumpsters needing to be emptied fewer times per week.

“Before we began our recycle program, the garbage at many campus buildings had to be emptied daily,” Marshall said. “After we implemented the recycle program we were able to reduce collection to two or three times per week for garbage and once per week for recycling.”

The recycling program faces many problems that are preventable by informing students how the process works so they can better cooperate with Building Services workers.

Building Services employees at the Holmes Student Center often deal with these situations.

“When [garbage in the recycling bins is] a problem, it’s because people are lazy,” said Building Services Supervisor Vicki Ortega. “It was a huge problem the first couple years [of the recycling program], but I think more people know now.”

Drain will continue to work with the Building Services Management Team foremen and employees to develop updated plans for different buildings across campus.

“Every building is different, so every system is going to be a little different,” Drain said.

Bryant said one of the issues concerning the recycling program is making it more accessible for people on campus and in the residence halls.

“It would be nice if we all carried that piece of paper another hundred feet, but I don’t think we’re quite there yet,” Bryant said.