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Talkin' Trash At UNI

The director of the University of Northern Iowa’s physical plant has been talking trash, but that’s a good thing. Mike Zwanziger is overseeing a new mixed recycling program on campus that accepts everything except glass and Styrofoam using just two containers. He explains, “ one side is blue which is an industry standard color for recycling, the other side is black for trash and on the black side we label it landfill because we aren’t really getting rid of it we’re just moving it from our property to somewhere else and burying it.” Zwanziger says even greasy pizza boxes are accepted if the leftover food is taken out. He says the only expense for UNI was purchasing the two-sided containers: removing and transporting the materials can be done by existing staff and equipment. Zwanziger says in the past, using numerous bins provided limited success. He says the receptacles are in all buildings. All outside dumpsters are also clearly marked. The Princeton Review has named UNI to its 2016 Green Rating Honor Roll. Only 24 colleges and universities make the list.