Editorial
Recycling options needed in res halls
October 9, 2008
UW-River Falls has made great strides in going green. One of the easiest ways for everyone to help out with this goal of sustainability is by making an effort to recycle.
Recently the University has made it easier in academic buildings and around campus pathways to recycle. Bins for recyclables now dot the pathways around campus and each academic building has a recycling room in which to dump off recyclable items. The bins are also now single-sort which eliminates the time-consuming task of sorting out each item type.
Residence halls, however, still have a ways to go to catch up with the rest of the campus.
In previous years most residence halls on campus each had a room where recyclable items could be discarded. However, in recent semesters these recycling receptacle rooms have been removed and replaced with dumpsters located outside of the halls.
South Fork Suites’ have a garbage room on each floor, but recycling bins are not included in the garbage room. Students have to walk to the recycling bins outside of Crabtree to dispose of their recycling. Once the temperatures start dropping, it is not a stretch to imagining the apathetic student bundling their garbage and recycling together and throwing it all away with the trash.
It is time to make a team effort, between the students and university officials, to recycle.
It could be made more convenient for students to recycle in the residence halls. Re-open the recycling rooms, put dumpsters closer or have a recycling competition between residence halls to stimulate recycling much like they do with energy conservation.
Students can do their part by making more of an effort to put separate their trash and recycling.
The university has begun taking steps in the right direction, but more can be done with a combined effort to meet the University’s sustainability goals.