Recycling is important work for Galo Yepez, and he encourages the campus to join in. (Photo by Virginia Horner)

Galo Yepez is one man who knows trash from treasure. He is in charge of the refuse and recycling departments at Tulane.

Some materials are re-purposed to interesting uses, says Yepez, supervisor of the two-man recycling collection team. For example, all glass the team retrieves goes to the Tulane glass studio where it can be used in glass sculpture.

"Recycle everything at your desk except trash," Yepez advises. "Office paper, folders, newspaper, magazines ... they do not have to be separated now."

Yepez and his team recently delivered 600 pounds of aluminum cans to an uptown recycling company, with the proceeds returned to the Newcomb art department's recycling program.

"At the end of the year, when the students move out, we take up collections of clothing and household items that we give to Goodwill Industries to keep these useable items out of waste sites," Yepez adds.

Since Hurricane Katrina, many people in the greater New Orleans area are looking for ways to improve and preserve the environment. Even though area curbside recycling programs have been suspended in New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish, there are some local businesses and nonprofits that accept or pick up recycled materials from community residents, businesses and organizations. Tulane University is playing its part, with numerous paper and cardboard recycling sites on campus. The Tulane recycling program provides recycling service in the residence halls for even more materials.

Kate Powell, one of three student recycling coordinators hired to promote recycling at Tulane, is leading a Recyclemania competition, pitting Tulane against other universities across the country in per capita paper recycling and waste minimization beginning Jan. 28 and running for 10 weeks.

One of the events the student coordinators and student volunteers will do is sweep through academic and office buildings, visiting Tulane staff and faculty, giving out bins and explaining how the recycling system works.

"We plan to sit outside the dorms and kind of be in your face," says Powell, a junior in chemical engineering who joined the Tulane Green Club when she was a first-year student at Tulane. "It isn't likely that we'll come out on top in Recyclemania, because there are so many larger schools that have recycling integral to their culture. But this will give us a benchmark and a goal." Powell says she'd like to see Tulane have one of the largest percentage increases in recycled goods over last year.

Overall, Tulane recycled about 140 tons of materials in 2006, including 73.7 tons of cardboard, 47.7 tons of paper, 12.4 tons of electronics, and 3.6 tons of clothing and household items, reports Liz Davey of the Office of Environmental Affairs, who coordinates Tulane's environmental sustainability programs, educating the campus community about recycling and energy-efficiency programs. "Our 2006 totals for Tulane recycling are down from previous year's totals, which were about 230 tons per year," Davey says. "Most of the drop was in paper, which is down in part because we could only collect white office paper last spring."

New this academic year at Tulane is a computer recycling pick-up service for offices on the uptown campus. Two days each month, the recycling staff picks up computers from offices that have submitted work requests in advance. The Office of Property Management logs out recycled computers, and those that cannot be reused on campus are recycled by the Capital Area Corporate Recycling Council, a Baton Rouge nonprofit that distributes many computers to schools. Yepez says his team collects computers and peripherals such as printers -- even wires.

Full information on recycling at work and at play is available at a website hosted by the Tulane Office of Environmental Affairs and the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities.

A guide called "Recycle New Orleans" is available as a download from the site. The guide, updated in November 2006, lists places to recycle specific materials, from A (aluminum) to Z (the kitchen "zink"). Tulane students working under the auspices of the Tulane Center for Public Service and the Office of Environmental Affairs initially compiled information for the guide last spring semester in consort with the Green Project, a building materials and paint recycling and resale center located in the historic Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans.

Powell says a big part of the Recyclemania challenge is to minimize waste, a natural concern in the post-Katrina environment.

"Since the hurricane, many people have minimized waste without really knowing it," Powell says of the new less-is-more mentality. She quickly rattles off several examples: "Print on both sides of paper. Buy things in bulk so you don't pay for excessive packaging. Refill your plastic water bottle instead of throwing one away and buying another."

Students who have other ideas for Recyclemania or would like to volunteer to promote the program may e-mail recycle@tulane.edu.