NGU Skyliner

Despite scattered efforts to encourage recycling at North Greenville University, no comprehensive recycling program currently exists. Students interested in recycling have been largely left to themselves, and grassroots efforts have failed to gain traction. 

Worse, many students are responsible for wasting paper, plastic and aluminum by disposing those elements in non-specified trash cans. Philip Eppley, owner of Tigerville’s Eppley Garbage Service that disposes the campus’s waste, has noticed excess paper and bottles in North Greenville’s trash. 

“I’ve noticed a lot of paper in the trash there,” Eppley said. “There are some bottles, but they are lightweight, so I don’t notice them as much.” 

Diane Turner, director for student activities, said that she knew of no official recycling program on campus.

“I heard that some girls’ dorms were recycling paper and glass last year,” Turner said. “But they had some issues with stuff piling up, so they stopped doing it this semester. No one took responsibility for it.” 

Trey Fouché, chair of the outdoor leadership department, believes that environmental stewardship should be important to all Christians. 

“From a worldview perspective, I think it’s important to care for God’s creation,” Fouché said. “Recycling is one way of doing that.” 

Since coming on staff three years ago, Fouché has sought to resurrect a fledgling recycling program managed by the science club. In 2000, blue recycling bins were placed in strategic locations around campus, but misuse and disinterest amongst faculty and students hampered the program’s effectiveness, according to Dr. Tom Allen, dean of the college of science and math.

For two years, the program was funded by a federal grant, which was revoked in 2002, and two years later, the program fell apart. Fouché revived the recycling effort in 2005, placing blue bins beside copiers in Hester Library, Student Services, White Hall and Crain Science Building, among other places around campus. Workstudy students take the recyclable material to Mountain View Elementary School, one of 27 recycling drop-off locations in Greenville County. 

“If I can do some recycling and at the same time create some habits in other people who didn’t have those habits, that’s a good thing,” Fouché said.  

The outdoor leadership department does not service the dorms, though Fouché has had students bring him recyclable materials. 

Fouché applied for the Collegiate Recycling Grant offered by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to public and private institutions but was denied. 

“What they want from us is to get Aramark behind it and to put a cardboard collector outside the dining hall,” Fouché said. “The bookstore and the cafeteria are the people who really use cardboard.” 

Clemson, South Carolina, and Furman all have university-sponsored recycling programs funded by DHEC, but Fouché sees no such efforts at North Greenville. 

“Aramark is a national company, and they do it on other campuses because they are encouraged by the administrations,” Fouché said. “As a whole, I don’t think North Greenville encourages an environmental ethic. There are pieces, but as a whole we’re not there yet.” 

Aramark currently recycles grease and claimed that they have tried to begin a recycling program that includes cardboard but that the administration has not taken them up on their offer.

“We posed it to the administration, but they didn’t want to go that way,” Terrence Dromm, food service director at Aramark said. “They told us that they didn’t want people bringing material from off-campus and dumping it at the school.” 

Michelle Lovins, vice president for business affairs, said the decision was made before she came on staff last August.

“Typically it’s a cost issue,” Lovins said. “We fully support student groups who want to recycle, but to do it campus-wide would mean an additional cost that would be passed on to the students.” 

Two years ago, Eppley sent a recycling truck in tandem with a garbage truck to collect cardboard on campus but soon dropped the recycling truck. 

“I tried recycling there, and I did get a little cardboard from maintenance, but it wasn’t cost effective for us to send two trucks there,” Eppley said. “It wasn’t very well organized, and it didn’t involve the students.” 

Mountain View Elementary School and Blue Ridge High School are two recycling drop-off centers within five miles of Tigerville. Additional locations can be found at the J. Harley Bonds Career Center in Greer and at the Gateway Plaza in Travelers Rest.