Joe Majeika is committed to better waste management. He’s pulling everything possible out of the waste stream and building a campus culture focused on clean recycling—an effort that benefits the environment and the bottom line.

Last summer, Joe Majeika ’82 was asked to coordinate the logistics of removing 252,360 pounds of moldy books from campus. One wheelbarrow at a time, the books were filling two dumpsters a day. Realizing the significant cost just for disposal and trucking fees—and that the books were destined for the trash and didn’t need to be—Majeika decided to work with a local recycling company on a solution. “When all was said and done, it saved the University close to $20,000,” he says. “And almost 126 tons of books were recycled responsibly.”

As URI’s recycling and solid waste coordinator since 2022, Majeika is on a mission to ensure the university community makes a habit of clean recycling. Driven by the goal of pulling everything possible out of the waste stream, he’s changing the recycling culture on campus by identifying inefficiencies and implementing solutions. “He’s a problem-solver,” says Majeika’s supervisor, Brian Boesch, assistant director of landscaping and grounds, noting that Majeika’s “outside-the-box thinking elevates sustainability efforts while reducing the cost to fund and operate those efforts.”

Majeika’s strategy is twofold: Educate people about best practices, and provide an efficient system that minimizes environmental and monetary costs. One example: When the University was regularly accruing contamination charges—sometimes more than $2,000 a month—because our trash and recycling dumpsters lacked distinguishing marks, he had the recycling dumpsters painted blue. “The bottom line is we want to recycle responsibly so that we know our recyclable waste is actually being recycled,” he says. A small change has made a big difference, and he hopes to build on this effort with better signage.

Contamination is a persistent problem Majeika works to solve. While the state’s single-stream recycling program makes the overall process easier, recyclables can end up in the landfill if they are contaminated with nonrecyclable materials. Majeika’s latest initiative at the dining warehouse ensures successful recycling as staff separate metal cans, and one dining hall now has certain bins clearly labeled “metal cans only.” By keeping the cans separate, they can be brought directly to the recycling center. More cost is recovered when the cans are recycled properly, he notes.

Streamlining sustainable processes is getting easier as Majeika’s team’s capacity grows with new equipment. A compactor truck allows better control over the quality of what the University recycles, and a hooklift truck ensures URI can rely less on outside trucking. “Not only is this better environmentally, but the value of the recycled commodities is being reinvested into URI’s recycling operation to continually increase its capability and effectiveness,” says Boesch.

Majeika also oversees URI’s transfer station, where his team recycles mixed paper, pallets, batteries, toner cartridges, fluorescent light bulbs, dehumidifiers, and more. While many items—including the hundreds of office chairs that are disposed of every year—were previously thrown in one dumpster, they now pull out scrap metals and sort them.

“We also take circuit boards out of computers, microwaves, and refrigerators because there are so many different materials in them,” says Majeika. “Whether it’s stainless steel, copper, aluminum, platinum—we take all of that out to recycle.” Last year, 240,000 pounds of metal, 618 mattresses, 190 refrigerators, 125 air conditioners, and over 171,000 pounds of cardboard were recycled.

The shift to sustainable practices is expanding: The URI Landscaping and Grounds team collects more than 1,000 cubic yards per year of leaves, grass clippings, and wood chips and, through a new on-campus composting operation, generates compost that is used in campus landscaping, on URI’s farms, or by the URI Master Gardener Program. “Keeping organic materials out of the waste stream is huge,” says Majeika, “because when they’re trashed, they generate greenhouse gases.”

The benefit of doing this work on a university campus is that you can get to know the community, Majeika says. He prioritizes visiting various groups to get a sense of what they need to be conscientious recyclers. People are receptive and cooperative and, as a result, he sees the campus culture shifting to one of shared responsibility—and enthusiasm—for good practices. “We’re getting a handle on recycling properly,” he says. “I think we’re really making a difference.”

—Anna Vaccaro Gray ’12, M.S. ’16

PHOTO: NORA LEWIS