Recycling Plan in Jeopardy

Although the Undergraduate Council unanimously passed a resolution this week calling on the University to fund a newspaper recycling program, council members said yesterday that Harvard officials did not think the plan could be implemented.

Helen M. Gould '90, the council member coordinating the recycling program, said that a University Facilities and Maintenance official told her yesterday that Harvard did not have the resources to fund and run a recycling program.

Gould said the official told her that student groups would have to be responsible for running any recycling program.

Council members said they were disappointed by the University's lack of commitment to the recycling program, but added that the program could still get off the ground.

Gould said Harvard has "a social responsibility" to "teach beyond the classroom," and should therefore back such a recycling program. She added that the council would continue to pursue the University's support.

The council resolution proposes to first try out a recycling program in one house, where dorm crew members would collect newspapers once a week from bins in each entryway. Jeffrey A. Roy '90, co-chair of the Phillips Brooks House Environmental Action Committee (EAC), said dorm crew workers in Lowell House were willing to try the experiment.

If the pilot program is successful, the resolution calls for the University to appoint a recycling liaison who would work with the council and the EAC to facilitate and coordinate a campus-wide recycling program.

Until the University begins to provide for theweekly collection and transportation of thenewspapers to a recycling facility, the councilwill subsidize the EAC's collection andtransportation costs. The program is presentlyoperating in Quincy, Lowell, Leverett, Eliot,Grays and Canaday.

"We've got a whole bunch of students who areexcited about recycling," said council memberFrank E. Lockwood '89, head of the council'sservices committee. "All we need now is a littlesupport from the University."

Lockwood said that he was "relativelyconfident" that the council would be able "to worksomething out with the University.