Paul and Joyce Rowell, the managers of the Mason Transplant House, have initiated a recycling program involving their guests (organ donors). Mr. Rowell decided to start the program because he had previously lived in Avondale Estates, where there was already mandatory recycling. "Many of the guests haven't recycled at home, and their family members are getting `recycled' organs, so it lightens the guests and makes them more comfortable," he said.
Bins were installed in the kitchen pantries, which are now emptied daily into larger receptacles in a storage room. The material is picked up once a week. (Pictured is the first weekly pick-up.) Initially, the Rowells used the DeKalb County recycling program, but when he became aware that Emory was starting such a program, he began working in conjunction with the University program instead. He estimates that they have recycled between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds of glass, cans and paper since the program's inception.
The Mason House celebrates the one-year anniversary of the arrival of its first guest on Oct. 2. It currently uses about 10 to 12 rooms to house 20 to 30 guests per night, but Mr. Rowell says they have the capacity to use up to 15 rooms. Currently, the storage room is filled with 10 55-gallon barrels full of plastic bottles, awaiting the day in the near future when the Emory recycling program accepts plastic.
--Peter Mills