The Concordian

Media Credit: Natasha Cline [Click to enlarge]

Thursday night I tied up a bag of bottles that my suite had for the recycling and made my way down to the 6th floor laundry room in North Towers to put it in the recycling bin.

When I got downstairs I was greeted by the ever so familiar site of a pile of recyclables piled into the sink and spilling out into the floor.

After seeing all of the items laying there, instead of being excited that so many people were recycling, I took a picture of part of the mess with my cell phone and then I started to take my bag of bottles and drop them down the trash chute because nobody likes wading through others trash.

Then I thought about it for a moment and decided that I might as well add to the collection pile--eventually the recyclables always disappear.

I’m not sure if the Eco-club gets to them first or if the janitors get annoyed at the immense piles of garbage and get rid of them some other way, but I took a chance and left my items in hopes that someone would get them sorted and to the right places.

I am a firm believer in what the Eco-club is trying to accomplish but sometimes the recyclables get ridiculous.

There have been times that it is nearly impossible to travel through the laundry room comfortably because bottles, cans, and cardboard boxes are overflowing everywhere.

A few times last semester even the 1st floor laundry room was beginning to look more like a trash receptacle than a place where students can take recyclables and do their laundry.

Last weeks newspaper had an article in it about the trash outside (which is ridiculous and those people need to receive a fine and a hold on their record) and how the Eco-club could help maintain extra trashcans in the parking lot, but as it stands they don’t seem to have the forces to even keep the flow of recyclables reasonable in just one dormitory.

I’m happy for the job that the Eco-club does do. It’s not everyday that students take time out of their busy schedules to help the environment and do something nice for the community but if more students are going to be encouraged to recycle and are in fact recycling, more volunteers to help sort are going to be necessary.

I’m not sure if it’s poor student participation, lack of equipment, the cold weather, or people just don’t want dirty hands, but if Concord intends to keep a recycling program someone should take out the collections that pile up more frequently, even if someone has to be hired (such as a janitor) to do it.

Maybe Bonner should offer community service hours for recycling if they don’t already.

-Submitted by

Natasha Cline

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