March 22, 2007

Why doesn't this campus recycle?
Lindsay Blazek, Dana Donchess, Ellen Doolittle, Mattie Unger

Where are the recycle bins on Marietta College’s campus? There are numerous trashcans on campus; two to three in a room. But, rarely do you see a recycle bin.

The lack of motivation toward recycle on this campus is appalling. On a college campus, the amount of trash thrown out weekly is monstrous. If you have ever seen the dumpsters outside of any of the dorms on a Sunday afternoon, then you know there is no denying the excess amount of garbage. The dumpsters overflow with cans, bottles, cardboard boxes, papers, and other miscellaneous waste.

All that trash, from just one of the over 20 buildings on campus. Imagine the amount of trash this college produces in a week. Visualize it; the image should frighten you.

The scariest part of all is that all that trash is going to landfills. None of it will be recycled. That does not have to happen and it shouldn’t.

Consider the items you throw away daily. Most, if not all of them, are recyclable. We’re college students, we write an undoubtedly large amount of papers. What happens when you’re rereading your ten page paper and you find a mistake, you throw all the pieces of paper away. Why? There is no need to.

Why not turn the paper over and print research on the backside of that paper? This gives you the opportunity to reuse that paper and save you money, something all college students can afford to save.

But if the time comes where there is no need to keep the paper around, still do not throw it away. There are places on campus where paper can be recycled including the Dawes Memorial Library, the Gilman Mailroom, and Thomas Hall.

There is no reason to support the loss of millions of acres of trees every year.

Aluminum cans. They are one of the most common beverage containers used today. Glance at a dumpster outside an upperclassmen residence hall on a Sunday afternoon, after students have dumped the remains from Saturday night’s activities. The dumpster is flooding with cans.

Again, you need to ask yourself, “Why?” Haven’t you seen the “Can Man” rummaging through the trashcans on Sunday’s? It’s obvious that he knows something the rest of us don’t. Imagine if you took all those cans and turned them in for money. In no time, you would have money to buy more aluminum cans filled with the beverage of your desire.

By you recycling aluminum cans, you can help yourself out and the environment. There are 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled a year which had a scrap value of $600 billion. Recycle your cans. Turn your trash into treasure.

Paper and aluminum cans are only two of the many materials that can be recycled. Some other common materials include glass, plastic, steel, Styrofoam, lightbulbs, newspapers, and tires; but the list goes on.

Think twice before you toss you lunch remains at Izzy’s or paper copies from the library. Recycle them. It will do you and the environment good.

You’re trash talks - you should listen.