How to make PSU a wasteland–in a good way

Portland State can boast a fair amount about its sustainability practices and commitment to sustainability in general. How many other places have you been that have waterless urinals? Probably not too many. Many of the newest buildings here are “green” buildings. We make use of the rainy Portland weather and harvest rainwater to use for non-drinking purposes.

Yes, it could be said that we do well.

However, we should not be too comfortable in our success to think that because we have come so far, we could not go further. Though we do relatively well with how we manage our waste here on campus, we can definitely do better.

Perhaps the first thought that comes to mind is the various recycling receptacles found throughout campus. People have the option of separating their garbage from the paper products and bottles they want to get rid of. But the number of the receptacles scattered throughout campus doesn’t seem to be enough to handle either the space needed to be covered or the convenience to the student.

“In the classrooms, you always see trashcans…. If we had a recycling container and a trashcan in each classroom, that would help,” said Dr. Joseph Maser, assistant professor in the environmental sciences department. Maser teaches a course on environmental sustainability.

In my conversation with Dr. Maser, he noted that a lot of storm water from PSU is going offsite. If we could capture that water, we could use it for things such as irrigation. PSU already has a couple of water-capture programs in place, though only in the Engineering Building and the Stephen Epler Residence Hall.

Epler Hall saves PSU approximately 110,000 gallons of water each year. If we were able to implement similar practices in other longstanding PSU buildings, the savings could go even further. Hey, the rain is going to keep coming, so we might as well make good use of it.

Another aspect of PSU that perhaps does not receive too much thought is the landscaping on campus, or more particularly, the waste from landscaping. To be honest, PSU does a superb job with its landscaping, though all landscaping debris produced at PSU is currently taken off our hands via our trash service.

One solution to benefit PSU would be to implement a composting program that would tackle not only our debris, but some food waste as well. You can compost everything from leaves and grass to coffee grounds and eggshells. If PSU were able to find a way to compost a portion of our own waste, it would not only greatly reduce how much we throw out, but also, the resulting mulch would be useful for other purposes at PSU.

“We can definitely use it here on campus,” said Scott DeSelle, the landscape services supervisor here at PSU. “We have four and a half acres of plant-bed area we could be top dressing in place of bark dust–we could use it as a mulch.”

Though, composting is easier said than done, at least on a PSU scale. DeSelle estimated that a space of 50 by 200 feet would be needed. Then you would have to rotate it with a tractor, and keep it cooking.

“We don’t have the manpower currently,” DeSelle said.

Together, all these ideas are not easy feats to accomplish. Though, I would dare say that a few years ago, no one would have thought we’d be installing waterless urinals or eco-roofs on campus, either. It would be very possible–we just have to weigh the benefits of implementing such ideas and find the drive to do them.

In time, we can further our success with handling our waste and recycling, and turn PSU into a sustainable “wasteland.”