After a rocky start, the recycling program at McFeetors Hall is up and running. Recycling bins were removed from the residence for a period during the fall term because there was no pickup service in place.

Len Cann, physical plant service co-ordinator, said that Versatech, the company that picks up recycling at the university’s main campus, did not have the ability to pick up the recycling at McFeetors because they require a loading dock, which the building does not have.

After some difficulty finding a contractor who could service the building, the bins are finally in place. Johnson Waste Management is the new contractor for McFeetors.

“It took longer than it probably should have,” Cann said.

Because there was no pickup service for part of the semester, the recyclables in the bins at McFeetors were being discarded as waste.

“They ended up being thrown in the garbage ... so we took away the bins until we had a company to pick up the recyclables at the McFeetors site,” said Kisti Thomas, U of W materials conservation co-ordinator.

But until the bins were removed, residents were unaware that their recyclables were being tossed out.

“They weren’t aware of that. No one knew. Everyone thought the recycling was being recycled,” Kyle McLean, a residence assistant at McFeetors Hall said. “I was kind of upset and so was everyone else.”

McLean said that despite the missing bins, some residents continued to recycle by bringing their recyclable materials to the main campus bins.

Now that the bins are in place, McFeetors Hall residents must be educated on how to use them properly so as to prevent contamination of materials, said Cann.

Because Johnson Waste is not the contractor that does pick up for recyclables at the university’s main campus, the materials that can be recycled differ slightly at the two locations. While the main campus recycling bins only accept certain plastics, McFeetors Hall will accept all plastics. Aluminum cans, corrugated cardboard and mixed paper can be recycled at both McFeetors and the main campus.

“We are trying to make it as easy as possible for the residents,” said Cann. “All they have to do is put [the recyclables] into the main bin ... they don’t have to separate the materials.”

In total, the U of W uses three different companies to collect recycling on campus, which Thomas said can cause confusion as to what can and can’t be recycled at different locations.

“We would ideally have the same contractor for all the locations but ... until there is a contractor that can provide us with those services, we go with the next best thing,” she said.