An Open Letter to Aggies About Recycling
All,
Recycling is a big concern here in Bryan/College Station and it is something we have been working on for years to make better. Because recycling loses money, it is nearly impossible to convince the Administration on campus that it is worth doing, and even those in the position to expand recycling are unwilling to do so because it would mean more work on their part for the same paycheck. This may seem harsh, but EIC keeps running into these excuses again and again and we are now tired of it.
In order to have recycling in all buildings, you must first have the bins. Secondly you will need people to come and empty those bins, and then you will need some place to sort and wash the recyclables. Lastly, you will need some company that will take your recycling donation. These moves in themselves are extremely expensive. EIC has put together a quote for recycling bins [one for every soda machine on campus] and the cost of outfitting campus is over $11,000, and those bins would still not be enough to be visibly seen. Also, the money that would need to go the student workers who would empty the bins needs to be factored in and the money it would take to expand TAMU’s recycling facility if they begin to take more than just aluminum and paper. EiC has volunteered to do all of the work for free, empty the bins, sort and clean the recyclables etc. But this offer has been shot down by the Recycling Center in saying that we are a bunch of unreliable college kids and they can’t count on us.
The biggest problem that we would face if we did get bins and set them out, and then empty them ourselves to take them to even an outside contract company, would be that the bins would be either empty or filled with trash. For the past four years, we have been recycling out at Kyle Field after every home game. In 2006, we received a large donation of recycling bins from Coca-Cola, 50 bins for $7,000. Every morning after a home game, we get to Kyle Field at 7:30 to begin to collect as many plastic bottles as possible. This season, I personally drove around to each of the 50 bins to collect the recyclables. Usually if there was anything in the bins it would be one or two bottles, but mainly just trash. The large majority of the plastic collected at Kyle Field is from the stands, so long as we can beat the clean-up crews before they throw it away…or we will have to go through the trash.
This year has been our most successful year out at Kyle Field only because we have had so many volunteer groups out to help every weekend. We saved over 3 tons of plastic from being thrown away with the trash. All of this is to say, that having the bins out for use [that in itself is no easy feat] is not enough to make people use them. EIC is willing to do a massive educational/awareness campaign to make sure that these bins would be used properly, but unfortunately we were not granted the funds that we need for the year to be able to afford all of the programs that our campus needs.
The simplest solution we have come up with for expanding recycling immediately is to have Curbside Recycling Drives. Once or twice a month EIC will set up a drop-off center on campus for anyone to bring their recyclables to, which we will sort and later clean and take to our contract company. The largest group of supporters we have for these drives are the dorms. A pilot project in the dorms was tried a few years ago, which failed and I have heard excuses from both ends on why: the students didn’t care or even try, and the funding ran out. Because these are the same excuses we run into all the time on campus when it comes to recycling, we could not wait any longer and so we started to hold the drives. With each event, more and more people contribute.
The recycling that we gather from the drives and Kyle Field all goes to the contract company TCW, which is the same that does curbside pick-up in residential areas. TCW can only pick up from houses, though attempts have been made to do so at apartment complexes. The different apartment complexes that have been asked to recycle are very willing to do so, they just need the promise from the residents that they will actually participate, and then they can organize a drop off point for the residents. In the attempts of EIC members to work with their apartments, the only obstacle has been convincing their neighbors to participate. EIC has the paperwork all ready to go for any apartment complex willing to take on this task, as we have been working with the University Apartments all semester to make this happen for them.
I know that this is a ton of information, but it shows that this problem is very complicated yet that many people are working hard to solve it. Please let me know if you have any comments or ideas that would further these campus efforts and we invite you to come be apart of all of our programs.
The most important thing we can do, to insure that change happens is to keep asking questions!
Thank you!
Amanda Grosgebauer
Chair, Environmental Issues Committee