Photo Illustration by Michael Uribes / The Collegian
Fresno State is discussing the idea of opening a hazardous waste collection site on campus. The facility will be accessible not only to students, but to all Fresno area residents as well.
On August 25, The Fresno Bee published an article titled, “Fresno Co. hopes to boost toxic waste recycling.” The article explained that negotiations are underway between Fresno County and Fresno State to create a facility on campus for an amount of $300,000 with further costs to follow including various equipment.
If the site is approved, it will be located on the north side of campus across from the calf barn and the mail center near Barstow Avenue.
Robert Boyd, an administrator from the facilities management department, called the article erroneous, since it will not be a toxic-waste recycling center. If the site is approved, it will be a hazardous waste receiving area. Boyd confirmed that Fresno State would not be recycling any of this waste.
“It will just be a collection site,” he said.
If approved, the facility will accept car motor oil, batteries, paint and other household items.
The city of Fresno and Fresno State are currently in the preliminary discussion phase.
“We don’t even have a date for our next meeting,” said Boyd. He calculates that their next meeting will probably be in six months. Because this project is currently in the discussion phase, the meeting will not be open to students or the public.
The Fresno Bee article also acknowledged that “Fresno County lags behind three neighboring counties””Madera, Tulare and Merced””that already have such facilities.”
These cities, however, don’t have hazardous material sites on their school grounds. Many say the Fresno area needs a hazardous waste collection site, and Fresno State is one possibility.
The $300,000 dollars will be from state grants. It is still unknown if the university will be receiving any kind of compensation for having this facility on campus.
Some of the funding, however, will come from residents of Fresno.
According to the Fresno Bee article, “residents and businesses have been contributing to a fund that would pay for the facility through a portion of their trash collection bills.”
The fee could come out to “less than $2.50 a household per year,” said Leslie Kline, Fresno County recycling coordinator. According to the article, Kline hopes that the facility can collect materials at least once a month. The target date for opening is sometime in 2013.
“It should be in another place separate from school,” said Lucerito Salgado, mass communication and journalism major. If built on campus, it will be open to residents as well as students and break up the campus for non-educational services and this might change the environment of the university, says Salgado.
Dr. Michael Becker from the Political Science Department agrees that more information needs to be released about what possible negative effects it might have on the university and students. Information about possible hazardous dangers the site may pose to the university should also be addressed, he said.