The UF Office of Sustainability’s Spring Greening collection, which helps students and the community properly dispose of personal and hazardous waste, is today.
Volunteers will accept hazardous waste, gently used clothing and nonperishable food. Students can make drop-offs from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at three locations: the Stephen C. O’Connell Center parking lot, the UF Cultural Plaza parking lot on Hull Road and Frazier-Rogers Hall parking lot.
According to Sustainable UF’s website, obsolete or irreparable electronics, paints, medications, fluorescent lamps and dry cell batteries are among some of the hazardous materials that will be accepted during the collection.
Sustainable UF will not accept radioactive materials, infectious or biological wastes, explosives or university property.
At last year’s event, Sustainable UF collected about 1,300 pounds of electronics and about 500 pounds of hazardous waste.
Alan Luo, a 19-year-old pre-pharmacy freshman, said he thinks the collection will help keep UF cleaner and much more efficient.
“The hazardous waste, electronics and chemicals would just stack up in your room and go nowhere,” he said. “You’d feel bad if you just threw it away because you know what would happen to it in a landfill.”
Sustainable UF separated the Spring Greening collection from its Campus Earth Day Celebration this year to better accommodate students during move-out, said Ashley Pennington, outreach coordinator for the Office of Sustainability.
Personal hazardous and electronic waste will be taken to the Alachua County Hazardous Waste Collection Center. Clothing will be donated to Salvation Army and non-perishable food will be given to the Bread of the Mighty Food Bank.
Pennington said Sustainable UF added the food drive this year as part of its Food For Thought campaign theme.
