Brief: Fund-drive under way for recycling bins

Recycling on the Quad will soon be easier to do, and you can help make it so.

The Students for Environmental Concerns has launched a fund drive to
purchase containers that will allow the public to separate their recyclable
glass and aluminum and from trash.

"We're bringing together faculty, staff, students and alumni in raising
funds to give a holiday present to the university," said Dan Johnson, a
member of SECS. "Our goal is to buy two dozen containers and place them
strategically in high-traffic areas. The containers will serve as an
educational and awareness tool, and will be powerful reminders of the need
to recycle, as well as show the university's solid commitment to
environmental stewardship."

The garbage cans now outside are filled with aluminum, plastic, paper and
glass - all materials that easily can be recycled and have market value,
Johnson said.

"Considering the university is under a state mandate to divert 40 percent
of its waste stream by 1999, and we are now diverting about 35 percent, the
need for outdoor recycling containers is apparent," he said. Officials from
the Operation and Maintenance Division have agreed to operate and maintain
any containers SECS purchases, he added.

The new containers with three separate compartments cost about $600 each.
The current model garbage cans on the Quad cost about $400.

Donations - with checks made out to "University Recycling Gift" - may be
dropped off at any Busey Bank or the front desk of the University YMCA.

More information is available from Johnson at 255-6560 or
dejohnso@students.uiuc.edu