The Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) of the SGA has been hard at work to improve sustainable practices throughout the city of College Park and in the last month, members of the committee have been meeting with local bar owners to incorporate recycling into their businesses. With the University of Maryland’s vast achievements in environmental stewardship, the committee felt the need to ensure the city represents the same commitment to sustainability.
As an environmentally conscious student, it is difficult to find locations along Route 1 that I trust work hard to reduce their environmental impact. The businesses typically are order-out which means there is a neverending amount of waste created, and there are few options for customers to deposit their waste. There is minimal recycling and close to no composting options. Since the bars produce mostly recyclable and compostable waste, and receive an immensely high customer turnaround, it is incredibly important that they focus on improving their practices. This endeavor to improve recycling in the College Park bars is of benefit to current students, and to potential Terps who are drawn to UMD for its dedication to sustainability and its service to the College Park community. It also benefits the bars by drawing more attention and customers, there are also financial incentives to introduce recycling for the bars with new city and county programs.
Some important policy background: the committee saw an opportunity to move sustainable practices forward in College Park through grants offered by the city. Among the incentives provided by the local government, there are grants offered by the city offering recycling grants through the Business and Multi-Family Apartment Recycling Grant Program. The grant provides funds for an enclosed space with recycling infrastructure like dumpsters, carts, and pad sites.
In addition, Prince George’s County passed a mandate that all businesses and multi-family properties are required to provide opportunities for residents and patrons to recycle their waste (more about the law can be viewed here: http://tinyurl.com/countymandate). Complying with this mandate will save the bars time and money.
As a committee, we are happy to report that thus far several businesses have shown interest in expanding their recycling programs, and among them, Terrapin Turf, has verbally committed to begin the process for recycling at their establishment. To expedite the process, SSC members have researched funding opportunities for the bar and have offered to help complete grant applications for the owners. However, the process has proven to be slow as we coordinate with bar owners and finalize applications.
Without more support from the bar owners, submitting applications will be impossible, and the process to clean up the city’s waste management will be endless. We have gotten some support from Looney’s Pub recently and we will be working both with them and Turf until the deadline for the applications.
We hope to see more active involvement from the bars in the future in order to apply for the grants by the end of the semester. As a committee, we applaud Terrapin Turf for being the first bar to state interest in the process of expanding their recycling and we encourage students to show support for businesses that incorporate these sustainable practices so they become the norm and expectation throughout the city.
-Cici Bosogno, Economics '16