Our campus has seen green lately – that is, greener than before. The recycling efforts have become great, yet there is still so much to be desired.
There are no clothing drop sites, no paper receptacles en masse and no real clarification about where the recycling posts are.
If UH is going to make efforts to go green, it should go all the way. A recycling program is going to be supported and utilized regardless, so why make students hold their trash until they get to a more convenient location deemed so by the school?
Many schools around Houston use the Abitibi paper retriever service – basically dumpster used strictly for paper recycling on a large scale. The different colleges throughout our campus participate in recycling, as is evident in the computer labs, offices and other areas. But by extending a larger receptacle for the students’ use, people would not only have a place to toss their old boxes and papers, but the school could earn money for the campus, or donate that money to schools in the Houston area that are in need of extra funds.
The RecycleMania competition seems to be a great opportunity for campuses to compete in something other than sports. If campuses all over participated in events like these, the recycling efforts could increase tenfold nationwide.
UH has done a decent job in getting the campus to be more aware of the need for recycling, but it seems to be a fickle trend. As with most hot items, they become popular and then go out as fast as they came in. It is understandable that UH wants to phase in the recycling program, but the fact of the matter is, we need it in full immediately.
Without a greater effort on students’ parts, our campus is only adding to the heaping pile of refuse from our city. Our students are better than that. We should be making every effort to reduce, reuse and recycle through programs such as trash recycling and beyond. What about programs that swap books, furniture, clothes – especially formal wear in light of the coming holidays and hobby materials? The opportunities are endless, and they are already out there. We just need to take the initiative to find out how they work and figure out a way to make them work on our campus.
The school will bite the bullet on the cost of the recycling program anyway, so why not do it correctly? Get the bins in front of every building, make sure there is one at every area where vending machines are, place them in the parking lots and even in the areas where students gather to enjoy the outdoors, such as park areas.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to recycling, and our campus is on the right path. Time and patience are the best test of anything, but our world has already waited too long – and her patience is running thin.
We all need to join the effort to protect our world and campus to better future generations.
MousaviDin, a communication junior, can be reached via [email protected]
