Iowa State鈥檚 newly appointed recycling coordinator Ayodeji Oluwalana,聽plans to change how Iowa State views recycling. Currently, Iowa State University generates nearly tens of tons of trash and recyclable waste every week. Most of this waste is trucked over to resource recovery center where it is burned for energy, and much of it ends up in landfills. Oluwalana says this method of recycling is not sustainable.
Oluwalana previously worked a similar position at Western State Colorado University. He organized a new sustainability commitment for the Western State and put them on track to generate zero waste by 2025, a plan he鈥檚 bringing to Iowa State as well. Zero waste doesn鈥檛 mean eliminating all waste production. Oluwalana explained it鈥檚 a process of dealing with waste effectively so that as little of it ends up in landfills as possible.
鈥淢y goal as a sustainability passionate person is to use higher education to promote sustainable waste management,鈥� Oluwalana said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 keep doing things this way, and we need to ask ourselves what we can do better.鈥�
Oluwalana鈥檚 position as recycling coordinator has been vacant for the past 15 years. It operates under Iowa State鈥檚 Facilities Planning and Management (FPM) branch, whose director said Oluwalana is a much needed addition to the university. 鈥淲e鈥檝e really had our recycling program on idle mode for those fifteen years,鈥� said Bob Currie, an FPM director. 鈥淲e knew if we were going to get serious about sustainability we鈥檇 need to assign this to somebody that鈥檚 passionate and has a background in sustainability.鈥�
鈥淩ight now, Iowa State goes straight to the recovery stage,鈥� Oluwalana explained. 鈥淲e need to be asking ourselves 鈥楧o we really have the right set up?鈥欌�� Oluwalana said we need to focus more energy on the top of waste hierarchy. 鈥淲hat we鈥檝e been doing, I wouldn鈥檛 call it recycling,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e missing the parts of reduce, reuse and recycle.鈥�
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