Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

Recycling remains limited

Miami University's urban and regional planning classes are reviewing the current recycling conditions for uptown businesses and are working to find a solution. Many companies in Oxford rely on transporting their own recycling to the Ditmer Parking Lot.
Miami University's urban and regional planning classes are reviewing the current recycling conditions for uptown businesses and are working to find a solution. Many companies in Oxford rely on transporting their own recycling to the Ditmer Parking Lot.

Erin Fischesser

Miami University's urban and regional planning classes are reviewing the current recycling conditions for uptown businesses and are working to find a solution. Many companies in Oxford rely on transporting their own recycling to the Ditmer Parking Lot.

With the city reviewing its current refuse collection contract, the debate to provide off-campus students and Oxford businesses with recycling options has sparked once again.

Some uptown business owners are complaining recycling is too costly or inconvenient. The only options are to transport recycling to a receptacle elsewhere in town, to their own home or to pay for a dumpster from Rumpke.

Bill's Art Store owner Bill Berry said many businesses are forced to take out their own recycling due to space constraints.

"I don't know that any businesses up here have enough uncommitted space (for a dumpster)," Berry said. "I would be willing to pitch in and pay for a dumpster if we could find a place to put it."

Berry said he moves the recyclables from his business to the recycling dumpsters in Ditmer Parking Lot.

Other uptown owners and employees said they were more than willing to recycle - and many do - but not without sacrifice.

"You have to make an effort to recycle," said J.C. Rupel, owner of the Oxford Copy Shop. "We try to recycle everything here."

Rupel said he sends some recycling home with employees and takes some himself and drops off large amounts of paper in recycling dumpsters in nearby parking lots.

Employees at Kofenya also diversify their recycling efforts. Employees Tex Bateman and Kate Ebert said cardboard is sent to Rumpke, but jugs and glass are taken by employees and coffee grounds are left in compost buckets for local gardeners to use for planting.

"I don't think it's the most convenient it could be," Ebert said.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

Sgt. John Buchholz of the Oxford Police Department said he has been concerned with uptown recycling problems.

Buchholz said he has seen many cans thrown away that could have been recycled. He said he knows Miami University students are willing to recycle, but they can't afford to pay the fees to do so.

"It's been really discouraging," Buchholz said. "I've spoken to a couple of people about it but everyone keeps telling me they have to take (recycling) to Ditmer."

Buchholz said he is determined to begin working on the project as soon as possible and hopes to get something started, even if it starts out small.

"We need to get some cooperation to start doing some recycling even if it's very limited initially," Buchholz said.

David Prytherch, associate professor of geology and sustainability coordinator, said the topic of recycling has been discussed multiple times in his urban and regional planning classes.

"Off-campus recycling is the most reoccurring topic in the five years that I have taught this class," Prytherch said.

In the class, students are required to identify a planning problem, review existing conditions and give a series of solutions.

This year, another group has chosen to take a crack at the recycling issue.

Junior Christian Adams and sophomores Sam Kay, Erin Legalley and Alex Myers chose to work on the issue of recycling because they all hold a common interest with the issue.

"We were all concerned about it," Adams said.

According to Adams, the group plans to map out where recycling bins are located and mark where that

location is relative to public trash cans and dumpsters to deal with the lack of recycling availability in public places throughout Oxford.

Prytherch said he encourages his students to work with local government to bring issues to the table and make suggestions.

"My hope is that in these projects where they collaborate with local policy makers they give something back," Prytherch said. "Student projects have definitely contributed to policy making (in the past)."

Adams said the group has contacted city officials and members of Green Oxford to aid them in developing their project and to possibly implement it once it is completed.

"We're hoping to collaborate with these groups to potentially create something that is beneficial to everyone," Adams said.

The students are also working with their sources to produce the most useful and effective idea.

"We're trying to fit our project to where there is need," Adams said. "We'll see where it goes."

While the students are still in the planning stages, Adams said they hope to at least produce something that the city can use in the future since they are using the mapping system that the city planner uses.

"Hopefully we'll give them something useful," Adams said.

According to Prytherch, this year's group may have a good lead and great timing to make some progress.

"I think that the timing is good and they have a good angle on it," Prytherch said. "They actually maybe can solve this age-old problem."

Prytherch said he would be very glad if this issue could be solved this year.

"There is more possibility for change than there has been in the past," Prytherch said. "If these guys can solve (this problem) I'll be eternally grateful."