About Rice Recycling

Mission Statement : Program Goals : Program Philosophy : Program History

Mission Statement

Rice Integrated Waste Management Services (IWMS) seeks to reduce the environmental impact of the university community while meeting its waste needs.  To do this, IWMS will provide highly accessible and timely recycling service to the Rice community, support the community's actions to reduce and reuse material, and provide efficient, effective service for disposal needs.  In all its activities, IWMS will work towards supporting the university's core missions of teaching and research

Program Goals

The goals of IWMS are:

• Serve the needs of the Rice community in a cooperative manner
• Reduce pollution, environmental degradation, and resource depletion associated with using virgin material
• Reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill from Rice
• Generate funds to improve the program
• Contribute to the university's core mission of teaching and research
• Generate community literacy in waste-related issues
• Involve all elements of the university in the program

Program Waste Reduction Philosophy

IWMS seeks to reduce waste and its associated environmental impacts.  To support this goal, we focus on a hierarchy of methods that maximize the efficiency of a material's potential use.  They are, in order of preference:

1. Eliminate the Concept of Waste -- If we are able to direct the outputs that we generate on campus into other processes, then those outputs are not necessarily "waste".  Example: At Sid Richardson College, some of the food "waste" from the kitchen is placed into the Earth Tub to make compost.  When the compost is ready, it is used in gardening and landscaping on campus.
2. Reduce -- Reducing the amount of waste generated by preventing or minimizing its creation is the most efficient reduction strategy in resource use.  Example: By reducing the amount of junk mail you receive, you keep it from being printed and mailed to you, which saves resources.
3. Reuse -- Reusing material without needing to reprocess it saves energy and is the next most efficient reduction in resource use.  Example: Using durable plates and cups rather than paper or styrofoam versions.
4. Recycle -- Reprocessing material into another useful form saves energy and material compared to disposal.  Example: Using office paper created from recycled paper and then recycling it.
5. Dispose -- Sanitary disposal is sometimes the only option for a given material.  This results in no reduction in resource use.  Material is discarded and new materials must be extracted and synthesized to meet future product demand.

Program History

Recyling began at Rice in 1972 with a student named Duane Marks.  Using a truck from the university, he picked up glass and cans. Unfortunately, recycling ended when he graduated.

Recycling efforts were intermittent until the 1980's when the student-run Recycling Club formed and began collecting glass, cans, and newspaper from the residential colleges, Willy's Pub, and Valhalla.  With the aid of an electric cart from Facilities and Engineering, the students collected these materials once a week and stored them in a small shed near the media center.  The recyclables were pre-processed (bundled, crushed, washed, etc.) and periodically delivered to a materials handler. 

In 1995, the recycling operation was taken over by Facilities and Engineering, which expanded the project to include the various academic and administrative departments on campus.  Their efforts brought uniform bins and daily collection to the program.  Paper recycling was also expanded from newspapers only, then to white paper, and currently to any type of clean paper product (including cardboard).

Starting in the Fall of 1998, the Environmental Programs Steering Committee, funded by the President's Office, sponsored an environmental intern - Ryan McMullan - who examined the current state of recycling and disposal and started the Composting Pilot Project.  In the Fall of 1999, the internship was continued by the President's Office, Facilities & Engineering, and Housing & Dining to provide a more focused look at recycling options and other waste management issues.  During the Summer of 2000, Ryan was hired as a Recycling Coordinator to consolidate disposal services and recycling, as well as add services for reducing and reusing materials.  This marked the creation of Rice Integrated Waste Management Services, representing a partnership between the Facilities, Engineering, and Planning Department and the Housing and Dining Department.  In 2004, Mike Polk became the new grounds supervisor in charge of recycling, waste removal, and moving.

Last updated: May 17, 2005