By Reece Nations
Image obtained from Ashley Rogers, Texas Tech Office of Communications & Marketing.
LUBBOCK – Once a bustling hub of activity committed to sustainability practices, Texas Tech’s on-campus center for recycling is now indefinitely closed.
“For the whole fall last year, we were not receiving any money for the commodities that we were recycling,” Duggan said. “So, we were spending money taking load after load cardboard to be recycled, and we weren’t receiving any money for it. The next step was having to pay to have the items recycled.”
“And so, while I’m very proud of the work that we did, we can no longer justify the expense at this time,” Duggan said. “It just wasn’t something that we could continue right now due to all the economics involved.”
Image obtained from Ashley Rogers, Texas Tech Office of Communications & Marketing.
“I grew up in Dallas and recycling there was easy,” Nowicki, a Texas Tech alumnus from the class of 2018, said. “And so, I’ve always said, ‘Well, it’d be great if the city put us out of business one day and they just made recycling super easy for everybody.’”
Good Earth Recycling is a curbside recycling service that operates in both Lubbock and Ransom Canyon.
A monthly service fee is charged for collecting and transporting recyclable material on either a bi-monthly or weekly basis, according to the company’s website. Prior to the plant’s closing, Good Earth would deliver the material they collected to the on-campus facility, Nowicki said. Since then, the company has pivoted to operating its own plant for sorting and distribution.
“That was a big challenge because we had to figure out how many people that you have to have on staff, and you’ve got to figure out the best way logistically to transport everything — once you’ve got it sorted— to the different recyclers,” he said. “We also had to figure out how to best recycle material that (the city) wouldn’t take. For example, Styrofoam.”
Recycling center signage noting its closure. Photo by Reece Nations.
Despite this, Carey Hewett, Director for Services and Campus Sustainability Officer, said custodial services still gather recyclable material from the educational and office buildings on Tech’s campus to be recycled with the city. Further, hospitality services make use of a large-scale cardboard compactor located behind the Student Union Building to assist in the university’s sustainability efforts, Hewett said.
This practice, combined with the campus’ other sustainability initiatives, earned Tech a bronze rating from the STARS Report.
The “Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System,” or STARS Report, is a performance rating issued by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The report is based on metrics that gauge an institution’s commitment to sustainability practices.
“I think it just goes to show the cumulative effort of the many things that are going on around campus,” Hewett said. There’s a lot of emphasis on sustainability for the campus. It’s important to Texas Tech, and I think it’s important to students, too.”
About Reece Nations, Managing Editor
