Bee Sustainable: How to use the SCAD recycling bins

Written by Julia Gralki. Photo courtesy of Envato Elements.

Every once in a while, when I take out the trash at my dorm at Barnard Village, I stare at the bins for a while, contemplating which one to feed with my trash: the normal or the recycling one? When I take a glance at each of their contents, there’s no visible difference – which probably means that I’m not the only one who’s facing a dilemma while taking out the trash.

What goes into recycling bins?

There is no law that makes recycling mandatory in the state of Georgia. Instead, recycling regulations depend on individual counties. SCAD introduced recycling bins in 2010, but the 12 years that passed in the meantime didn’t change anything about the confusion students experience when separating trash at the dorms.

So what actually goes into recycling bins?

According to the City of Savannah’s recycling guideline, these items should not be recycled: plastic bags, styrofoam, food waste (including to-go boxes), appliances and cords, and personal protective equipment like face masks or gloves.

On the other hand, these items should be recycled: paper such as newspapers or magazines, empty aluminum and steel cans, empty plastic drink bottles and cardboard or chipboard.

How do I actually use the recycling bins?

Now, here’s the question of the question: How do I actually use the recycling bins?

If your dorm is like mine, there is a single trash can where we collect trash that is taken out to the bins located in the residence halls. But here’s the secret: To recycle trash successfully, it needs to be separated into recyclable and non-recyclable contents before ending up in the trash bins.

For example, you could set up two separate trash cans in your dorm. One would be for food waste and things like face masks or plastic bags (hence, non-recyclable) and the other one for items such as paper and aluminum cans.

Is the recycling really recycled?

There’s a TikTok video out there in which someone throws a water bottle into an airport recycling bin, then opens the cabinet where the trash cans are – just to discover that recycling and non-recyclable trash share the same bin.

So do our recycling efforts actually make a difference? It depends.

In Savannah, there’s a rumor going around that the recycling is taken right to the landfill instead of the recycling center. Whether that is actually true is up to the recycling gods, but we know for a fact that recycling bins containing non-recyclable items are considered “contaminated” – meaning the content can’t be recycled. Therefore, the recycling turns into trash.

What happens to the recycling after it is collected?

Recyclables are picked up twice a month and taken to the Pratt Industries Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Savannah. The materials are sorted and then sold to vendors before they are used to manufacture new products.

How do I get into recycling if I live off campus?

If you live on-campus, you can request a recycling cart after setting up water service through the City of Savannah’s Utility Service. And there’s more good news: Recycling is free of cost in Savannah. Once you have your recycling cart, it will be collected twice a month on the same day as the regular waste. Learn more about the recycling guidelines of the City of Savannah.

If recycling pick-up doesn’t work for you, you can also drop your recycling off at one of the drop-off locations in Savannah. 

Now what?

Writing this guide made me realize two things: One, we need stickers on the recycling bins at SCAD residence halls that explain what goes into them. Second, we need to separate trash before it’s taken out to the trash bins, not after. Let’s make it happen!