Recyclables in UCR waste containers By: Justin Richardson

The purpose of this study is to understand what kinds of wastes enter our trash receptacles and determine how much of the waste is recyclable at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) campus. A significant amount of UCR’s trash is composed of recyclable materials varying from plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and various forms of paper wastes. The goal of this experiment is to estimate how much recyclable materials end up in landfills from the UCR campus. Since there are hundreds of trash receptacles on campus, this study will focus in on the hallway trash receptacles of Bourns Hall of Engineering B-Building. In this study, fifteen waste bins of B-Building were monitored for one week for its non-biodegradable contents. Two recycling bins were added and all seventeen bins were monitored for their non-biodegradable contents. Their contents were grouped according to their composition into generalized categories