UW Oshkosh Advance Titan: Recyclemania Helps, But its Success is Up to Students
Filed under: Earth 911 - February 21, 2008
By Jennifer LaBorde
Whatever their beliefs about global warming and the state of the environment, most people agree that our generation must take better care of the earth than our parents did. As kids we were taught to turn the faucet off when we brushed our teeth and separate trash from recyclable material. Children were told to “reduce, reuse and recycle,” and the mantra was distributed in schools and on television commercials.
But now, college students often don’t reduce, reuse and recycle—we throw away. Cans and glass bottles are mixed with coffee grounds and Chinese food cartons. Earth 911, an organization that tracks recycling trends in the U.S., says that more Americans are recycling. However, the numbers compiled by Earth 911 does not translate onto college campuses. Students, and not only students on this campus, seem much less conscious of their recycling habits than adults.
It isn’t really an issue on the forefront of students’ minds, with classes beginning and the anticipation of school stress. However less important it is than other things, recycling should be part of our daily activity.
Students know that the future of the environment, however bleak or positive it might be, is in their hands. While we will be living with the consequences of our parents’ and grandparents’ actions, our children will have to live with ours. Recycling one beer can doesn’t seem like it will do any good, and maybe that’s right. College kids might think that they have better things to do than sit and separate cans and garbage, but it really is an important thing.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that for recycling to work, everyone must be committed to every phase of the process. It seems so simple, and everyone thinks that it doesn’t matter if they don’t do it, but get the big picture—recycling, and care of the environment as a whole, is much more than just putting a can in the right receptacle. It is about a social responsibility.
Unlike many social responsibilities, recycling and reducing consumption is not political. It isn’t something that one group will tell you to do, but something another will tell you to avoid. It just simply is a good practice to have.
Our university is helping students get motivated to recycle, as it joined a national collegiate recycling competition called Recyclemania. The competition focused on a few different categories, but basically urged students to recycle more and waste less.
The competition, while focusing mostly on recycling acceptable materials, also stressed the importance to reduce waste. Reduce, was the repeated theme, just as it was so many years ago.
In an age where most meals come from a cardboard box or frozen dinner tray, the amount of waste is growing, especially among low-income individuals like college students. Recycling isn’t the only thing students can do—by limiting the amount of trash that students throw away, students will take another step to ensure that the future of the environment will be a positive one.
Though the actual recording of recycling information ended Feb. 2, UW Oshkosh continues to encourage students to recycle. Anywhere there is a garbage can, there is a receptacle for paper and glass and cans near by.
The university does a fantastic job helping students realize the need to recycle. By making it easy for students, the university not only promotes a clean environment on campus, but also makes it easy for students to do the right thing.
What this topic truly comes down to is doing the right thing. Nobody is going to look through your trash to make sure you are recycling.
Even with recycling laws in place in Oshkosh, no police officer will follow you around to make sure that the soda can you’re drinking with lunch goes in the glass and aluminum bin. Though people can receive a citation from the city for not separating recyclables, for the most part, a commitment to recycling is up to each individual.
The results of the Recyclemania competition will be available on its website beginning Feb. 8. As a first time school that pledged its whole campus to recycling, it will be interesting to see how UW Oshkosh compares to other similar sized schools.
So the responsibility comes to the students. We will have to live and work in this world, and it is ours to take care of. Fossil fuels are being depleted, and the ozone layer has a hole in it. Will one recycled newspaper reverse these things? No. But one person, with one newspaper a day, will without a doubt add to the problem.