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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| Bruce Spena walks through a trailer, which will soon be filled with items ranging from lighting fixtures to cabinets. Once full, the items will be shipped off and distributed by charity organizations in places like Central America. |
Claremont University Consortium joins recycling network
Since 2004, the Institution Recycling Network (IRN)—a cooperative recycling organization that works with more than 125 hospitals, colleges and universities, and other organizations to improve the performance and economics of their recycling programs—has been no stranger to Claremont.
Already having worked with 3 of The Claremont Colleges over the past 3 years, the relationship between the schools and the recycling organization will grow even closer as the Claremont University Consortium (CUC) joined the IRN earlier this month.
“This came about in the most roundabout way,” CUC Central Facilities director Bruce Spena explained. “I recently came to CUC from the Berkeley College of Music in Boston and had worked with the IRN when I was there. They have a big operation in New England. So when I came here and saw that a few of the colleges had worked with them, I said to myself ‘Oh my god, I know these guys,’ and I gave them a call.”
It was approximately 4 years ago that Harvey Mudd College became the first CUC campus to work with the recycling organization in order to distribute thousands of surplus dormitory furniture pieces to disaster relief efforts in Central America. One year later, Claremont McKenna College joined together with IRN and in 2006, the two schools joined together to send 100 tons of surplus dormitory and classroom furniture to 4 Central American countries. Pomona College then teamed up with IRN in the fall of 2007.
“We were looking for a place to get rid of furniture and we didn’t want to go with landfills,” said Tom Shaffer, plant engineer at Harvey Mudd College. “This is a good alternative. The stuff gets re-used in places that don’t have this type of stuff. We’ve even gotten photos of kids sitting on the furniture that we donated. Instead of being dumped, it’s being used and that’s the good part.”
According to Brian Worley, Claremont McKenna College’s director of facilities and campus services, IRN takes the complexity out of recycling and makes it simple.
“It is going to be much easier for us to recycle items and keep them out of landfills,” Mr. Worley said.
The way the recycling process becomes easier is by the CUC having two trailers located within its Central Facilities area. One of the trailers will be used for furniture while the other will hold construction materials such as doors, windows and cabinets. (story continues below)
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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| Bruce Spena, director of Claremont University Consortium Central Facilities, opens one of two trailers used to store surplus items for recycling. The consortium is now collaborating with the Institution Recycling Network. |
Over time the trailers will accumulate surplus until it is filled. Once a trailer is full, IRN will remove the unwanted materials and distribute the contents to its network of charitable relief agencies. What’s left is an empty trailer as the cycle begins again.
“This really gives the colleges an easy avenue to get rid of surplus,” Mr. Spena said. “If we make it easy, then it will happen a lot more. This option saves you a lot of aggravation.”
The relationship between IRN and the Claremont schools also represents a western expansion for the east coast based organization that is also working with clients in San Diego, Santa Barbara and Temecula. IRN was established in 1999 and houses its headquarters in Concord, New Hampshire.
“The reception from the west coast has been very good,” said Dana Draper of IRN.
Mr. Draper also believes that the new relationship between CUC and IRN is one that will have a significant impact on The Claremont Colleges.
“Colleges have more and more pressure to be more environmental and sustainable,” he pointed out. “We’ve developed the programs and all Bruce has to do is tailor the program to what they want to do. They’re now going to be able to recycle things that normally would end up in the dumpster—especially furniture.”
Ultimately, the CUC-IRN partnership will consist of the CUC member schools working with the recycling organization to improve recycling programs that are already in place and also to expand recycling to include more materials that fall in the surplus category. The collection and distribution of the surplus is only the beginning.
“IRN has shown its expertise with dozens of different commodities,” Mr. Spena said. “We expect this partnership will strengthen the Claremont Colleges’ reputation as a leader in environmentally sustainable management of our campuses.”
Mr. Shaffer agrees and fully supports items being reused rather than discarded.
“It’s about looking at reduction versus benefits,” he said. “With reduction, the focus is on disposable and landfill costs but with benefits, it’s about how the items will be reused.”
—Landus Rigsby
