Recyclemania Competition Aims to Increase Recycling on Campus
Emma Barbato
Staff Reporter
Recycling is such a waste of time. They don’t really recycle at McDaniel College. Students have seen groundskeepers mix trash and recycling then send them both off to landfills.
It’s not like McDaniel students should be concerned with recycling when it’s a fad that’s already so over done. There are far more important things to think about right now, for example, the economy and the college’s switch from Coca-Cola products to Pepsi.
Recycling is just a lot of hassle for very little gain; let’s not waste our time. Recycle Mania can’t say anything that hasn’t been heard before ad nauseam.
It’s thoughts like those that make campaigns like Recycle Mania so important to not only colleges, but every community. A ten-week competition, Recycle Mania begins January 17, 2010 and runs through March 27. During this time college communities, including McDaniel, will post flyers and host activities. They promote a “gotta catch em’ all” attitude in regard to anything that can be put in a blue bin. As junior Colin Miller so eloquently puts it, “only three types of mania are acceptable, dance mania, drinking mania and recycle mania. People just forget the third one too often, so, we have to remind them.”
The problem is that no matter how many flyers you put up or trash piles you build there will always be the idea that recycling is for your neighbor, or maybe just the Environmental Action Club. This year students are trying to build awareness not just that recycling is important, but that recycling is for everybody. To kick the year off Garden Apartments plans to have a recycling competition among its three buildings throughout the month of October, aptly named “Kick It to the Can.”
The EAC is perhaps the most active group concerned with promoting Recycle mania. They plan on making recycling bins to distribute in academic buildings, which up until now have been fairly neglected. Their main goal is to make recycling more accessible and if possible, ridiculously easy. The college itself has helped with this goal by streamlining recycling, meaning paper, plastic, glass, cardboard, everything except actual garbage can be put in one recycling bin to be sorted later. Do not be deceived by the recycling bins that are still behind the times, despite what is said on the bin, it can all go together.
“The thing is we all know recycling is important, we just don’t realize how important or how easy it is. It’s really worth the effort,” said Liz Eiler, vice president of the EAC.
So next time there is a McDaniel student dressed as a tree in Memorial Square, remember, recycling is still important and will always be everybody’s responsibility, not just hippies on the Quad.
