By Megan Murphy
Editor-in-Chief
The Roy Blunt Center for Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology (MARET) has started a recycling campaign on campus. The recycling program is a continuation of the MARET Center’s efforts to improve sustainability at Crowder College.
“We’re very environmentally conscious, so [this] recycling effort falls underneath our umbrella,” said Dr. Melissa Oates, director of the MARET Center. “About a year ago, I happened to make connections [with] Region M from the Harry S. Truman Coordinating Council; their aim is to basically reduce the amount of trash in a landfill.”
The MARET Center joins an elite group as a platinum certified LEED building.
The MARET Center applied for their first education grant from Region M last December, according to Dr. Oates. The grant, around $3,000, was used to buy recycling bins and water bottle filling stations on campus. This summer, the MARET Center received an additional $3,000 grant, which is being used to purchase additional recycling bins, among other things.
“We also wanted to make sure we had recycling opportunities outside, so I’ve just ordered three outside bins. Once the students got on campus, we were ready to get some recycling going,” said Dr. Oates.
The recycled materials from Crowder are sorted in an onsite recycling trailer, then sent over to Region M’s Neosho Recycling Center. The Neosho Recycle Center, located at 4700 Howard Bush Drive, is not too far from Crowder.
“Region M has really been a great partner and very supportive of our efforts,” said Dr. Oates.
According to Dr. Oates, around 2100 pounds of material from Crowder have been turned into the recycling center so far.
In addition to their recycling efforts, the MARET Center has been platinum certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the highest certification available.
“It’s a certification that is a points based system, and depending on how many points the building earns, it’s either bronze, silver, gold, or platinum,” said Dr. Oates. “As you can imagine, there just are not very many buildings that are platinum certified. I did some research, and found that there are approximately 140 community colleges in the U.S. that have a LEED building. In the state of Missouri, there are three community college LEED buildings, and two of them sit on the Neosho campus.”
Both the MARET Center and Davidson Hall are LEED certified. The other building is on a St. Louis Community College campus.
There will be a ceremony to celebrate the MARET Center’s certification Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 1 p.m. Additionally, there will be an informational meeting on Friday Nov. 2 in the Fireside Room from 1-2 p.m about the recycling program.
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