Waste Matters
- Participate in a Campus Cleanup effort and keep all recyclable waste from the collection out of the landfill. (5)
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Campus Cleanups are an opportunity to make sure that waste that was casually left behind gets to its most environmentally responsible destination. By putting aluminum cans into the recycling stream, you’ll be reducing the energy used to meet future consumer demands. |
- Equip your house with enough recycling bins to have a recycling option next to each trash can. (10)
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Human beings are creatures of habit—and more than a little lazy. The percentage of recycling in a household can be improved by making each disposal area a decision point, a place where recycling and sending used up materials to the landfill are both options. |
- Donate gently used items to Goodwill or to a similar operation which sells or distributes second-hand items. (10)
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Donations to Goodwill are not just charitable gestures. They’re also ways to fight against our disposable culture. By giving clothes, furniture, and small appliances a second life, you’re reducing the demand for such items in the marketplace. Recycling is good, but reducing and reusing are even better. |
- Make arrangements to compost biodegradable waste. (20)
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Burying biodegradable waste is not only unnecessary, but it also increases the number of trips made by inefficient vehicles to the landfill. According to the EPA, biodegradables (e.g. yard waste and food) constitute more that 25% of the municipal waste that winds up in the landfill. Rerouting this material to a nearby composting area would reduce energy demands significantly. |
· Conduct a waste audit each semester to assess problems within the houses recycling (and perhaps composting) program and set goals for the percentage of total waste recycled and/or composted. (A waste audit involves collecting the trash and recycling, putting on the rubber gloves, and sorting through the stuff. It sounds pretty repulsive, but it’s not that bad, it doesn’t take more than an hour or two, and it tells you a lot about what’s going on in your waste habits. The student sustainability assistants are available to provide materials and guidance for an audit. Just use the contact page to set something up with the campus Recycling Coordinator.) (25)
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Knowledge is power, and knowledge is all the more powerful if it tells us something specific about our own practices and potential areas for improvement. A waste audit will quickly reveal if your house is producing too much uneaten food, if specific recycling practices are amiss, if a lot of compostable waste is headed to the landfill, or if you’re heavily dependent on disposable items that could be avoided. Putting this knowledge into action by adopting specific targets for improved behavior (usually discerned in a second audit) is an ideal way to use this knowledge. |
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