Northland and Chartwells offer recycling center

July 7, 2008

It's time to empty out your junk drawers and bring your dead batteries, spent ink cartridges, used cell phones and unwanted clothing to Northland College. Northland and Chartwells, the food service provider at the College, have established a new collection center in the Craig A. Ponzio Campus Center for a variety of hard-to-recycle items. The center, located in the main lobby of the building, will accept materials from the general public as well as members of the Northland community.
"This new program is another way that Northland and Chartwells can serve the greater community," says Clare Hintz, campus sustainability coordinator at the College. "We want to make the recycling process as simple as we can to encourage people to dispose of their waste responsibly. This may not change the world over night, but every little bit helps."

The recycling center will accept used non-alkaline batteries other than car batteries, used cell phones, and spent computer printer ink cartridges. The center will also collect used clothing that is still in good condition, with the exception of undergarments. Batteries collected at the center will be taken to the Ashland Area Enterprise Center for recycling. Ink cartridges will go to InkRx in Ashland for refilling or recycling. Donated clothing will be made available to Northland College students and the general public through the Reuse Center, a student run organization to support local sustainability and recycling efforts.

Cell phones collected by the program will be donated to Cell Phones for Soldiers, a non-profit organization that exchanges donated cell phones for calling card minutes that allow U.S. soldiers serving overseas to call home. Each donated phone is worth enough to provide an hour of talking time. In 2008, the organization hopes to turn old cell phones into more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards for U.S. troops stationed overseas.