FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY FMD / UNIVERSITY CUSTODIAL SERVICES RECYCLING PROGRAM OUTLINE: (Revised 03/04/2008) NOTE: THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT S RECYCLING PROGRAM IS EXECUTED BY THE CUSTODIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT FOR ALL E&G AREAS. ALL AUXILIARY AREAS SUCH AS HOUSING, GRAHAM CENTER, WOLFE CENTER, ETC. ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN RECYCLING PROGRAMS. IN ADDITION THERE ARE MANY OTHER UNITS THAT PLAY A ROLE IN THE UNIVERSITIES RECYCLING AND WASTE REDUCTION STRATEGIES. THOUGH NOT ALL WILL BE LISTED HERE A FEW EXAMPLES ARE: THE UTILITIES DEPARTMENT THAT PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLL IN ENERGY REDUCTION, THE PLUMBING DEPARTMENT THAT PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN WATER CONSUMPTION REDUCTION, THE PURCHASING SERVICES DEPARTMENT THAT PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN PURCHASING RECYCLED MATERIALS FOR THE UNIVERSITY, AND THE ADMINISTRATION WHICH PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE FOR SIGNING ON TO THE LEED PROGRAM WHICH WILL CAUSE ALL FUTURE CONSTRUCTION TO BE GREEN CONSTRUCTION. AGAIN, THESE ARE ONLY A FEW EXAMPLES OF THE MANY CONTRIBUTING UNITS. The University s recycling efforts are governed by the State of Florida under Florida Statute 403.714 which states the following: Florida Statute 403.714 (Duties of State Agencies) reads that each state agency, the judicial branch of state government and the state university shall: (a) establish a program in cooperation with the Department of Management Services for the collection of all recyclable materials generated in state offices and institutions throughout the state, including, at a minimum, aluminum, high-grade office paper, and corrugated cardboard. The purpose of the Greening Florida Government program is to get the word out on the importance of recycling and what better group to start with than state employees. The Greening Florida Government program is an effort put forth by the Department of Environmental Protection to encourage our co-workers to reduce, reuse, and recycle, thus saving the state money. We are also encouraging Green Procurement-the act of purchasing products made of recycled content. Practicing green procurement demonstrates an organizations commitment to considering and minimizing the environmental consequences of its activities. Green procurement can also offer savings, in particular, buying green usually involves products that are easily recycled, last longer and produce less waste. Money is therefore saved on waste disposal. The University has a well established recycling program that by far exceeds the minimum standards as required by above-mentioned statute.
Following is a list of items currently being recycled at FIU at varying degrees: A) Paper. We are currently recycling all kinds of paper, so not just high grade office paper, but all kinds including but not limited to office paper, computer paper, fax and copier paper, catalogs, brochures, envelopes, advertisements, posters, time cards, wrappers from reams of paper, newspapers, adding machine tape paper, scratch and message pads paper, accounting ledgers, magazines, books, so basically any type of paper that is clean, dry and free of food. This is by far our most successful program at this moment, and we are averaging 40 tons per month of recyclable paper collected (Based on fiscal year 2006-2007 collection data). This is higher then any other School, College, and/or University within Dade and Broward Counties including both private and public institutions. The University has an agreement with Choice Recycling Corporation which picks up all collected paper at our recycling compound that has been collected around campus by our staff. Choice reimburses the University $ 20.00 per ton of paper and provides the University a compactor free of charge which prevents our staff from having to leave campus to deliver paper to a recycling plant as well as prevents the paper from ending up in the trash thus avoiding additional trash removal fees to the University. The University absorbs the remainder of the cost, including the cost of 2 full-time USPS positions, labor hours form custodial staff assisting in collection, and all costs associated with the purchase, maintenance, and fuel for the 29 truck, and the purchase of recycling bins which can be up to $ 350.00 each. Paper is collected inside all buildings that have offices. Inside the buildings it is collected by the custodial staff and brought to the loading zones of each building. Recycling bins are located in each office, by copy room areas, and the loading zones. From the loading zones it is collected by our recycling crew, which consists of two full-time employees and a 29 feet truck. They pick up all the paper at the loading zones and bring it to our recycling compound were we have the recycling compactor located. The compactor is picked up and emptied on a weekly basis by Choice Recycling Corporation which in return resells the paper to recycling plants (currently mostly to China). This program has been expanded to the BBC campus and will be completed to include all BBC buildings within the next 4 months. B) Aluminum, plastics, and glass program. This program was started two years ago and is currently being done in the following buildings: HLS-1, ECS, DM, EC, ZEB, RDB, RC, RB, PCA, PC, GL, Lakeview Housing, Everglades Hall, CSC, and CSC Recycling compound. Bins are located by the vending areas and the loading zones. The University is absorbing the entire cost for recycling these items. This includes the use of staff as well as the cost of $ 7.00 per 96-Gallon bin of collected material to Choice Recycling for picking up the materials to be taken to a recycling plant. This program has seen rapid growth over the past few months and we are currently collecting an average of 50 full bins (96-Gallon containers) on a monthly basis. C) Light bulbs / Ballasts. All light bulbs as well as electrical ballasts being replaced on the UP, BBC, and EC campuses are being crushed into one of our five "bulb eaters" located in our recycling compound. These crushed materials are then picked up by a local recycling company, currently AERC, and taken to a recycling plant in Palm Beach County. The University is absorbing the entire cost for recycling these items which averages about $ 600.00 a month.
D) Corrugated paper (cardboard). Currently we have twelve 8-yard containers and one compactor for the collection of folded cardboard located throughout both UP and BBC. (PC, CP/OE, HLS I, HLS II, RB, GC, two at EC, two at CSC, CBC, GL, and a compactor at BBC). The cardboard compactor at BBC is being serviced by World Waste Services, and the twelve 8-yarders at UP and EC are being serviced by Choice Recycling. Both companies provide this service free of charge which prevents our staff from having to leave campus to deliver cardboard to a recycling plant as well as prevent the cardboard from ending up in the trash thus again avoiding additional trash removal fees and increased waste to the University. However, the University still has a significant cost in the number of man hours used to collect, and fold down the boxes to fit them into compactors and/or containers. E) Wood pallets. All wood pallets are collected from the different loading zones and taken to our recycling compound. From here the reusable ones are separated from the broken ones. The reusable ones are then recycled in the sense that they are given to our vendors for reuse rather then being thrown into the trash, providing that they pick them up at our compound themselves. This has been very successful and has played a good role in our reduce and reuse strategy. Again the University does absorb the labor cost for the man hours and equipment to collect the pallets around campus. F) Batteries. Custodial Services recycles all batteries collected such as lithium batteries, 6-V batteries, 12-V batteries, alkaline batteries, cell phone batteries, etc. For example all batteries used in our automatic key lock doors are being recycled. All emergency exit sign batteries are being recycled. All batteries from battery operated hand tools are being recycled. There is a drop of location for students, faculty and staff located at the Campus Support Complex building room 110. These materials are being recycled and picked up for recycling by a local company, currently AERC. The University absorbs the entire cost for recycling these items. G) Cartridges. Printer toner cartridges are being recycled and there is a drop of location for students, faculty and staff located at the Campus Support Complex building room 110. H) Car batteries used oil, oil rags and used tires. These items are recycled through Motor Vehicle Services. The University absorbs the entire cost for recycling these items. I) Trees. All tree trimmings (including most trees damaged during hurricanes) are being converted into mulch that is reused around campus when possible. Additional green initiatives from the Custodial Services Department: Paper Goods. All paper supplies (toilet tissue, paper roll towel, and junior jumbo toilet tissue) in all rest rooms on all campuses are manufactured of 100% recycled contents (with a minimum of 40% post-consumer content). In addition, steps are currently underway to convert these recycled paper products to green seal certified recycled products in an upcoming bid award process. This would mean that these products are not only 100% recycled material but had a minimal impact on the environment during manufacturing, and that the manufacturing procedures used to produce these recycled materials are environmentally friendly oriented processes as well. The bid and bid award process for this are being developed and expected to have been awarded and in place by the start of the new fiscal year July 01, 2008.
Cleaning Chemicals. All cleaning chemicals to clean our campus facilities bought by the Custodial Services Department are close to 80% environmentally friendly even though they are of commercial grade. Great effort has been spend to remove harsh and harmful chemicals, and in some cases the manufacturer has been instructed by us to remove certain ingredients from products sold to the department in order to make them more environmentally friendly. In addition, the local based manufacturer from which cleaning chemicals are purchased is in an advanced state of getting the chemicals we use on campus approved by the U.S. EPA with the Design for the Environment certification. This process is expected to be completed and in place by the start of the new fiscal year July 01, 2008. Completing this process will mean that 100% of cleaning chemicals used will be green / environmentally friendly and certified by the EPA. As a clarification Green Seal is an independent organization that certifies products as green and awards the Green Seal to qualified products. The EPA is the governmental agency that certifies chemicals as green or environmentally friendly and awards a Design for the Environment certification for qualified products. All cleaning chemicals used by the Custodial Services Department are correctly blended by the use of chemical blend centers. This eliminates immediate contact with the chemicals and ensures proper dilution of the products and not over dilution as so often happens when people manually eyeball dilution ratios. This is extremely important as even Green products can be harmful if not properly used and properly diluted to the correct ratio for its intended use. Cleaning Equipment. All cleaning equipment used by the custodial services unit is environmentally friendly. This means for example that all vacuum cleaners have HEPA filtration; all carpet extraction equipment uses 50% less water then previous models and have dual operating modes (low moisture modes) for further reduction in energy and water usage: all floor scrubbers use 50% less water then previous models (Considering that we have a little over two million cleanable square feet of carpeted areas this means a significant reduction in water usage); hard floor burnishers have HEPA filtration: and last but not least HOT water is no longer used in our cleaning process eliminating the need for water heaters in custodial closets and thus further reducing energy consumption. Immediate future plans: We are going to continue to increase paper collection including the amount of collection in classrooms and open areas such as hallways and lobbies. We are expanding the aluminum, glass, and plastics significantly and the program has grown over the past 3 months from collecting 10 full 96-gallon bins monthly to 50 full 96-gallon bins. We also added recycling collection points to the recently opened School of Law building, the new Frost Art Museum building, and the new Graduate School of Business building. We are restructuring the recycling program at the BBC campus and are adding collection of those items inside the buildings to the new in-house custodial services.
The University Custodial Department in conjunction with the Purchasing Services Department is conducting several RFI s and RFP s (Request for Information / Request for Proposal) for the purpose of identifying qualified companies to assist in the expansion of the recycling program.. Other considerations in waste reduction: The University implemented a 2 shift custodial cleaning operation instead of a 3 shift operation to increase cleaning during daylight hours and therefore reducing energy waste and needs by eliminating cooling and lighting needs for a 3 rd shift. Cleaning personnel are instructed to turn off lights in offices, storage areas, classrooms, etc. in areas that are unoccupied and are not equipped with sensors. For further information visit our website: http://facilities.fiu.edu and click on the recycling logo. Contact: University Custodial Services, Recycling & Solid Waste Department University Park Campus Support Complex 110 Miami, Florida 33199 Phone: (305) 348-4630 Email: recycling@fiu.edu We would like to hear from you! Please send us your comments and suggestions to: recycling@fiu.edu FIU/FMD/CUSTODIAL/RECYCLING PROGRAM UPDATE 03/04/08