We routinely toss plastic bottles and containers in the recycling bin, but many other kinds of plastic instead go in the trash because there’s no easy way to recycle them. UWM’s Office of Sustainability has launched a program to help solve this problem.
The program focuses on gathering plastic film materials, such as grocery bags and Amazon mailers, and taking them to be recycled and repurposed into new, usable materials. The benefits are two-fold: keeping over 10,000 pounds of plastic out of landfills each year and providing an economic benefit to the university.
Ben Konitzer, recycling and solid waste specialist at UWM, brought this initiative to life when waste disposal companies began adding fees to sort plastic film from other trash. Konitzer found a crossroads where the university can be spared hundreds of dollars in extra costs and the UWM community can come together to protect the environment.
“This is an economic benefit for UWM,” Konitzer said. “Every bale that we make of plastic film saves campus about $500 through avoided costs and earned revenue. Avoided costs are how much we would have spent to send the plastic to the landfill — which gets expensive. And earned revenue is how much we get paid for sending this material to a specialty recycler.”
Lindsay Frost, director of UWM’s Office of Sustainability, takes great pride in these new efforts. The office manages over 30 distinct waste diversion streams over UWM’s campus, from operating composting programs to managing the many blue recycling bins.
“I’m proud of Ben and the whole Office of Sustainability team for doing the research and behind-the-scenes work to turn this idea into a reality, and I’m grateful for the support from campus collaborators,” Frost said.
Support from students and departments across campus has helped make the effort a success, Konitzer and Frost said.
One student ready to take part in this project is Ryan Buchanan, a student employee in the Office of Sustainability and UWM compost operations assistant.
“This makes me super eager to see these new bins pop up around campus making it easy and accessible for anyone to recycle something that would end up costing the school money to put into our landfills that are already so full,” Buchanan said. “So, if you’re a plastic hater like me, what a great way to reduce the amount of virgin plastic being made!”
Frost and Konitzer encourage the UWM community and those in surrounding areas to get involved in this program to keep plastic film out of Milwaukee’s rivers and lakes. Select locations on campus have special collection bins to dispose of plastic film materials, making joining this initiative an easy choice.
Plastic film recycling sites
Student-facing bins can be found:
- In the School of Freshwater Sciences
- Outside the Office of Sustainability (AUP 116)
- In the Off-Campus Resource Center (Union EG42)
- In all University Housing locations for residents (Sandburg, Cambridge, RiverView and Kenilworth)
Department-specific collections, which support staff and operations:
- Student Union loading docks
- Sandburg Residence Hall docks
- University Services & Research Building (Surplus & Recycling)
- Campus Technology Support
- Union Station
- Restor locations at Cambridge and Sandburg
Any UWM unit that would like to host a plastic film collection bin can reach out to ask-sustainability@uwm.edu.
