Notre Dame’s Office of Sustainability is partnering with Building Services to roll out an expanded recycling program on campus. As part of the communication efforts of the program, the Office of Sustainability and Building Services co-hosted their third installment of “Recycling Listening and Learning Sessions” this past Wednesday in an effort to share updates and receive feedback from community members.
Lizzie Stifel, director of sustainability for student government, said that one of her main objectives is to debunk student mistrust in the University’s recycling process. “I think a lot of people love to recycle, and they want to trust in it, but I think we’ve had a kind of tough spin right?” Stifel said. “Because when I was a freshman, it was COVID, and we didn’t have recycling. And then when we got it back, it was like, ‘Well, what are we actually doing with it?’”
For Geory Kurtzhals, senior director of sustainability, this mistrust is precisely why her department has prioritized a “student-focused” program. A key component of the new recycling initiative, which began this past August, includes blue toters that have been placed on each floor of residence halls that have the space to accommodate them. The individual trash bins of classrooms in Debartolo and O’Shaughnessy Halls have also been removed and replaced with centralized trash bins and recycling toters.