A computerized recycling machine – the Dream Machine – was to be installed outside the Tuck Shop weeks ago.

On Sept. 22, Student Senate Foods Committee Chair Evelyn Howley said that the machine was in Pittsburgh waiting for Oakland officials to approve its delivery.

The approval and delivery, she said, would take no longer than two weeks.

Howley said that the machine was a way for campus to go green.

Instead, recyclable bottles are discarded. Some people throw away what could have been valuable points – just like moldy pizza or a banana peel.

The machine tallies points on a user’s virtual account based on the number of plastic and glass bottles recycled. Once enough points accumulate, they can be swapped for prizes.

Students have not been able to take advantage of this absent recycling initiative, so, for some, saving bottles has become a hassle that may lead to recyclables being pitched.

In September, senior Lizzy Bauer said she was looking forward to using the machine – especially for the rewards – and said she thought most other students would recycle with the machine, too.

Now, however, Bauer is less optimistic.

“Now they just need to get it here so I can get free stuff. I have bottles everywhere. I’ve been saving them for this machine and now I just want to get rid of them.”

Sodexo General Manager Victor Costlow said that he doesn’t have any new information about the shipment of the machine.

“It has to go through (Oakland’s) legal department,” he said.

He said that there could be a problem with the contract’s wording and that Pitt-Oakland’s legal team may have had to send it back to the company to adjust.

The time frame of the delivery, he said, is not something he knows and said he can’t say for sure if the machine will be installed before winter break.

Costlow said that he didn’t know whether Pitt-Oakland’s Dream Machine had been installed, either.

But on the Pitt Dining Facebook page, an Aug. 19 photo post shows the recycling machine assembled and ready for use in Tower C’s lobby.

A Pitt-Oakland Legal Department employee said that the issue could not be discussed.