Machines reward recycling

Students can now earn discounts at restaurants and on merchandise for recycling used bottles.

The PepsiCo Dream Machine kiosks, located in the SUB, Johnson Gym and La Posada, reward students with points for recycling bottles and aluminum cans. According to the Dream Machine Facebook page, points can be contributed to charities or redeemed for discounts on entertainment, dining, lodging and travel through greenopolis.com.

In 2010, 92,906 tons of materials were collected by the UNM Recycling Department, a decrease from the 104,440 tons in 2009, according to the annual recycling report. Linda McCormick, resource conservation manager for the recycling department, said the PepsiCo machines aim to increase the amount of recycling on campus by creating an incentive for students.

SUB employees and student organization Net Impact worked with PepsiCo to bring the Dream Machine kiosks to UNM.

Sunny Liu, vice president of Net Impact and an ASUNM senator, said the kiosks focus attention on recycling by making it rewarding.

“A lot of people just don’t find the incentive to (recycle), and I think that these machines will really help reward those individuals who choose to recycle,” he said. “And those who don’t have incentive enough, this will give them a reason to.”

The PepsiCo Dream Machine Initiative debuted nationally on Earth Day in 2010, through a partnership between PepsiCo and Waste Management. According to the Dream Machine website, the goal of the initiative is to increase the national recycling rate of beverage containers from 34 percent to 50 percent by 2018. So far, PepsiCo has put 4,000 Dream Machine kiosks and bins across the nation.

In addition to the Dream Machine initiative, UNM’s Recycling Department began accepting #5 plastics, which include yogurt containers, butter tubs and all types of batteries. McCormick said expanding the recycling program at UNM includes finding new types of recyclable material and increasing the number of bins on campus.

“That’s always a big, important thing at UNM is to get more (bins) outside because we have students, staff and visitors walking from building to building, so we want to have recycling available where the people are,” she said.

The department collects recyclable materials from departments across UNM. Paper, aluminum cans, plastic and glass bottles, cardboard, clothing, CD/DVDs, scrap metal, wooden pallets and other materials are collected and sent to organizations including Master Fibers, the Albuquerque Rescue Mission and the city of Albuquerque to be reused or processed, according to the latest recycling report in 2010.

McCormick said recycling can save as much as 90 percent of the energy required to produce new products, and also creates job opportunities.

“If you were to look at the jobs generated by land-filling material, which is in essence wasting material, one job is generated by land-filling, whereas 17 jobs can be generated by recycling material because you can have jobs from collecting, processing recycled material, manufacturing and transportation,” she said.

The department also implemented the Reusable Office Supplies and Equipment program, which collects office supplies such as staplers, paper clips, and notebooks that can be reused.

In addition, the SUB has water-filling stations for students to refill water bottles instead of buying new bottles.

For more information about recyclable materials, visit the UNM Recycling website at sustainability.unm.edu/recycling.htm.

For information about the Dream Machine Initiative, visit facebook.com/DreamMachine or DreamMachineLocator.com, or follow the QR code for more information.