A new recycling program focused on finding a solution for recycling packing materials has kicked off at the Seamans Center just in time for the holidays.

The pilot program has been brought to campus by Engineering Staff Advisory Council members Rachel Marek and Blake Rupe, who share interests in sustainability.

Marek said when she learned Iowa City mailboxes will reuse certain clean and sorted packing materials, she decided to save her packing materials at home to drop off instead of throwing them in the garbage.

The Engineering Council Sustainability Committee helped make Marek’s personal decision into a pilot program that the public can partake in.

“Blake and I knew that our department alone receives a lot of packages with reusable packing material,” Marek said in an email to The Daily Iowan. “We saw the potential for diverting a large amount of waste from the landfill.”

With the system they have in place, the Sustainability Office provides the recycling bins, and Iowa City has agreed to pick up the packing material when the bins are full. There are bins for bubble wrap, Styrofoam, and natural starch peanuts mixed together, and two bins for air pockets.

An expansion beyond the fourth floor at the Seamans Center would require funding, as their set of four bins costs $200.

“Anytime we have faculty and staff starting a program on their own, we greatly appreciate it,”  SustainabilityOffice communications specialist George McCrory said. “It just shows that faculty and staff are really dedicated to sustainability.”

Marek said she and Rupe hope that their model will be adopted by other colleges at the UI

— Andy Mitchell

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