Recycling at Penn State
As our earth is constantly trying to conserve energy to prevent global warming, Penn State works hard to play a part of this large goal. From the traditional trashcans around the campus, the college has put various ones that organize the different articles of trash. Penn State went from recycling only twenty tons of waste to about six thousand a year. (Penn State stall stories) That must have a great impact on the environment.
When I first came to Penn State a few weeks ago, I noticed all of the different trash containers that were located in the buildings. As I walked down the dusty and congested halls of Mckean, there was a row of waste containers. They had blue special containers that were for cans, trash, newspapers, office paper, water bottles, and even napkins. They even had large signs posted on the front of each container to ensure that students know what waste goes where.
This immediately caught my attention on their efforts to recycle for a healthier environment. They were placed in the middle of the floor so that each student was a short distance when they needed to take out their trash. With all these different waste containers around, students are urged to recycle at every possible time they can, but the question is do they?
I observe our janitor taking out the trash once in a while because of my curiosity towards how much people actually do recycle. From how I see it, most students do not. These four-foot trash bags for recycling are about a quarter of the way full by the end of the week. This is odd because students definitely produce more trash than that. On the other hand, the trash containers seem like they need to be emptied almost every single day. In these containers for trash only, I noticed that it was full of napkins, cans, water bottles, and more.
This showed me that not all students were making their best efforts to recycle. The fact of the matter is that most college students are just too lazy. If the recycling container is not right next to them, they will throw it in the closest thing possible. As much as I hate to admit it, I am one of those students as well. For the first week or two, I would always recycle, but then slowly it just took too much effort. I thought to myself, maybe it just took time for students to get used to this recycling, and that they would begin to do it more as they became older.
I was proved wrong when I went to a few fraternity houses. They accumulate probably two hundred to three hundred cans per night of a party or social, and these never get recycled. They are just thrown into the dumpster to be taken in the trash.
Interviews:
1. “ I guess it’s been better than when we first started to recycle, but it still isn’t that great.” (John, Mckean Janitor) talking about what he sees as recycling from when it first started.
2. “Fuck that. One trash can won’t make a difference anyway.” (John Widmaier, Mckean resident, freshman)
3. “I think it is a really good idea. I actually take the time out of my day to go pick out my trash and put everything in the right container. Me and my roommate take turns each time.” (Mike Moore, Mckean resident, freshman)
Facts:
- This would add up to around 900 cans because fraternities usually have parties about four days a week. According to this online recycling calculator I found, recycling those 900 cans would provide enough energy to view TV for 2400 hours straight!
(http://www.nrc-recycle.org/theconversionator/shell.html )
- Penn state went from recycling 20 tons in 1989 to 6, 070 currently. (Stall Stories, 9-20-2010 edition)
- The average Residence Hall student generates about 375 pounds of trash and 69 pounds of recyclables each year. (Stall Stories, 9-20-2010 editions)
- Penn State recycles about 48% of its total waste. (Stall Stories, 9-20-2010 editions)
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