Despite Tufts' significant progress that has been made in the realm of recycling, the university's recycling rate has in the last few years reached a plateau, mirroring the statewide trend.
Tufts' recycling rate has not significantly improved in the past five years. Residential recycling rates in Massachusetts have similarly not changed significantly in the past ten years.
Dawn Quirk, recycling coordinator for the Tufts Recycles! program in the Facilities Department, explained that this stagnation can partially be attributed to the already high rates at Tufts that make further improvement difficult.
"Yes, I think we've [reached a plateau] here in Medford," she said. "The [rates at the] Boston campus have gone up a bit every year since I've worked at Tufts, possibly because they had lower rates before."
She noted however, that the university as a whole has also been producing more trash, while individuals still do not recycle enough on a personal level — factors which both contribute to the stagnation.
Tufts' recycling rate in the 2007-2008 fiscal year was 33.6 percent, significantly higher than the overall level of recycling in Massachusetts, whereas in 2008 about a fourth of all residential trash in the state was recycled.
This is about the same as the 1997 recycling rate, according to a review the Boston Globe conducted using the state's Department of Environmental Protection figures.
Although the last five years have not seen much improvement in Tufts' recycling rate, the current rate is markedly higher than the 1998 to 1999 rate of 26.34 percent, demonstrating the progress the campus has made in the past decade.
Ground Support Services Supervisor Jesse Carreiro, who manages Tufts' waste and recycling contracts, has seen a marked improvement in Tufts' recycling program since its inception.
"There has been a tremendous improvement since the beginning when we first started," he said. "At the time, it was not as strong as it is today. We now have much better ways of making the program more active. We continue to have student support to make the program and our recycling more effective."
The Tufts Recycles! program's effectiveness and the current recycling plateau are both visible in statistics from the intercollegiate RecycleMania challenge.
Paper recycling statistics from the Medford/Somerville campus show that between fiscal years 2005 to 2008, the school has been recycling between a rate of 737 to 897 tons, up from the 2005 rate of 670 tons.
The rate of increase, however, has been relatively slow since 2006, according to Quirk, and Tufts' ranking in RecycleMania has been dropping.
"In 2008, we came in 18th in the grand champion competition and now we're in the low 40s," Quirk said. "Part of that is because other schools have joined and some schools, such as military schools, have much higher rates of compliance."
Quirk stressed the importance of recycling and said that the sentiment that recycling is not worth the effort may be contributing to the lack of improvement on campus. Many across the state of Massachusetts have also arrived at this conclusion as rates fail to improve.
"I've heard people spread rumors that recycling isn't worth it and doesn't save energy and that's not true," she said. "In Massachusetts, it's the law and it saves the state money. It also saves Tufts money. It's important to recycle."
Quirk and Tufts Recycles! intern Lucy McKeon, a senior, both decried students' complaints about recycling being too much of a hassle.
"A lot of people still think it's inconvenient, and I don't understand it, because at Tufts we make it so convenient, and people at Tufts are fortunate and don't have to go far away to recycle," Quirk said. "Some people do have to do some sorting, but we make it pretty easy here, so I don't understand how it can be inconvenient."
McKeon agreed and added that students must reduce their total usage in order to improve the level of recycling on campus.
"I don't know how, especially on a campus like Tufts where it's so easy to recycle, I still see people not really paying attention," she said. "It seems like people might recycle, but they don't realize that it's also about not consuming as much."
Carreiro emphasized the importance for students and staff to take the initiative to sort trash for recycling.
"Students and staff have to be the ones first separating the trash and recycling," he said. "We have people who collect those bags at the end of the day, and if everything is already sorted, the employees just pick everything up, and it's already done."
Although Tufts still has work to do to get past the current recycling rate plateau, Carreiro noted the importance of looking back and seeing how far the school has come.
"The important thing to me is the change, where we first started and where we are now," he said. "We still have a ways to go, but it's a process that takes time to perfect."
McKeon has been working with Tufts Recycles! since her first semester at Tufts, and has seen a large increase in recycling on the part of the administration.
"I think administration-wise, it's increased from what I've seen, especially Dining Services, [which] has gotten really into doing different programs," she said. "The composting has really increased at events like matriculation, so those are things that I've noticed."
Carreiro stressed the importance of students' involvement in the effort to improve recycling at Tufts.
"When we first started, we had not only facilities involved in the program, but also students who gave so much effort to improve the program," he said. "A lot of people have been voluntarily involved, and we've worked as a team all together."
