This story was produced as part of “Sustainable Stories,” a reporting project by news writing students in the UNH Journalism Program. You can find more from the project at sustainu.org.
In the handwriting of eager college students, quotes are written on the wooden shelves of a bookcase in a small room on the bottom floor of the Memorial Union Building. Filled with environmental science and global ecology handbooks, the third shelf from the bottom reads the words of American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
The dozens of books and the quoted words are an inspiration to the few Trash2Treasure members that occupy the room every Wednesday night. Trash2Treasure is a student-run program that replaced the UNH Recycle Everything New/Used (RENU) program last year.
UNH sophomore Emily Spognardi, coordinator of the new group, stands in front of a board with homemade bottle-cap earrings and a bracelet made from soda can tabs as she addresses the five familiar faces before her.
“So, we’re starting a band,” Spognardi said.
The students sitting in the small room laughed as Spognardi revealed it was a joke and crossed it off the meeting’s itinerary on the whiteboard.
During the critical meetings in its second year, the group is rallying to get support from other UNH students. Spognardi said that the main focus of the meetings this year is advertising and marketing.
UNH freshman and Trash2Treasure member Sophie Rathjen handed out flyers, a poster and a pamphlet that she created for feedback. Two flyers inform students how the program works and how they can participate, and another has an eye-catching picture of a couch on fire with the caption, “Don’t be that guy.”
“They take down all of the flyers on the bulletin boards every Sunday,” senior member Greg Mulcahy said. “We should go around every Monday and make sure there’s a flyer on every bulletin board.”
UNH Housing Sustainability Steward Dwain Lozier was impressed with the group’s first-year success, but said that the lack of volunteers was a major problem.
“Luckily, they have a dedicated core,” Lozier said.
Spognardi and co-coordinator Daniel Mannarino are responsible for running the meetings and delegating tasks to members. Mannarino, Spognardi, Rathjen, Mulcahy, Sierra D’Amours and Fiona Gettinger have spent recent days juggling the pressures of upcoming finals while creating posters and making plans to prepare for move-out day.
The group is working hard to recruit volunteers around campus. Spognardi recently had a meeting with student-athletes as well as with members of the Greek Life community to push them to acknowledge the Trash2Treasure organization.
Spognardi said she had been hounding head of Greek Life, Sara Pope, for months to get a meeting, until she made a personal visit and got the job done.
“Sara has been very helpful with promoting it [the organization] to Greek Life,” Spognardi said. “There wasn’t too much immediate interest [at the meeting], but I am going to have Sara keep pressuring them to sign up.”
To help the appeal of the program, the Trash2Treasure members will set up a day with Greek Life designated to picking up their move-out “trash.” Fraternities and sororities will fill up their front yards with treasures to be collected by one of two U-Haul trucks.
“The bulk of the program runs during finals week,” Spognardi said, explaining why they struggle to get volunteers.
The brochure that Rathjen created aims to educate students about the importance of recycling. It states that waste decomposing in landfills produces methane gas and other chemicals and toxins that contribute to the greenhouse effect, pollute waterways, soil and air, and poison plants and wildlife.
According to a study done by the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans created about 250 million tons of trash in 2010. The 6,000 students that live on campus at UNH produce about 25 tons of waste each month; five times that much is produced when students move out in May, according to the brochure.
Trash2Treasure sites will be set up around campus starting on May 7 to collect any trash that students think can be reused or recycled. The 13 extra dumpsters that are filled during move-out days collect waste that would have cost the university over $5,000 to potentially dump in a landfill.
Waste and landfill sites can cause health problems for people, too. The brochure also refers to a study done by the New York State Department of Health that reported that women living near landfill sites with escaping gases had four times the normal rate of bladder cancer and leukemia.
Last year, Trash2Treasure meetings were mostly spent lobbying for permission with Residential Life. This year, meetings are spent brainstorming ideas and making constructive changes to make the second year run smoother.
Grants from the UNH Parent’s Association along with fundraising efforts gave the group the $9,000 they needed to get started. Trash2Treasure collected over 60,000 pounds of reusable goods last year and made $12,000 at their yard sale during move-in, according to the organization.
Group members have contacted local hardware stores and chains such as Lowe’s and Home Depot, asking them to donate plastic bins for storage to replace the cardboard boxes they were using.
The bins cost about $6 each, so if they can get the bins donated, it will give Trash2Treasure a larger budget for advertising and marketing.
Members are also working on raising funds by participating in the Holloway Commons Prize Innovation-to-Market Competition. Competitors must present a business plan, and the winner receives $10,000.The competition includes a two-page submission, a five-page submission, a poster competition, and a final round in front of a panel of judges.
Spognardi said she believes her team has an advantage because they have already put their plan to action.
Lozier said that UNH Housing is working on a small scale to recycle old furniture in the dorms. Three years ago, UNH began recycling mattresses and carpet from dorms to reduce the waste going into landfills, Lozier said. Instead of buying new furniture, UNH Housing has been refinishing and reupholstering common area tables and couches that need repair.
In fact, Lozier said that all of the couches in the suites in Mills Hall have been reupholstered. UNH has a budget of $70,000 to recycle old furniture. It costs about $650 to reupholster a couch.
“I’m not sure if it’s cost-neutral, but we’re not paying a landfill fee, and it’s the right thing to do,” Lozier said.
Lozier stresses the importance of student help in the effort to educate the community about recycling.
UNH Residential Life is trying to make it easier for students living in dorms to recycle by introducing Single Stream Recycling, where students can throw recyclables into one bin.
Williamson Hall Director Allie Auger sends educational information about recycling to Residential Life for them to then send to other hall directors. Auger said that they put a note in newsletters after spring break explaining problems that can occur with not recycling, as well as helpful information about how to recycle.
“In my own building, I went around and spoke to a number of students about recycling and had them identify things that could/could not be recycled,” Auger said.
Auger said she hopes relabeling dumpsters and recycling bins with bright signs will help students choose to recycle come the end of the year.
As the year winds down and students cram into the library to study for finals, Trash2Treasure members will be chalking the sidewalks and plastering bulletin boards with neon posters inviting students to give a helping hand, or perhaps an old couch.
Spognardi admits that she was skeptical of the Trash2Treasure program in the beginning and didn’t expect it to work. She said she quickly learned never to doubt a small group of thoughtful committed citizens.
“If you have an idea, it can happen, especially in sustainability,” Spognardi said. “UNH has so many resources.”
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