A proposal to influence recycling at DU

Reduce, Reuse, Compost

Over the years in America, recycling programs have become more popular as they pop up all over the country. EVIDENCE. The material being reused in recycling programs accounts for 32.5 percent of the total amount of waste that the country produces. In 1999, 64 million tons of waste was prevented from ending up in landfills and incinerators (Recycling: Municipal). This is an amazing number to think about, and it has only risen in the past 9 years as recycling gains popularity. Recycling is a very important thing to have in every society because it results in less waste being produced, less money going towards produces new recyclable materials, and helps the environment as well. One community that is lacking a good recycling program is the University of Denver campus. Although they do have recycling bins on the first floor of most dorms and next to news paper machines and that sort of thing, it is still in need of great improvement.
Although part of the waste problem on college campuses is due to the laziness of the student body, an increase in the quality of the program would show people the importance of recycling and hopefully persuade them to become involved with the program. My proposal for a new recycling system/program at the University of Denver is targeted towards all students on and off the campus and also the people who run the University and/or are in charge of the program itself. With a team of both students and administers combined and a lot of support from the campus, an effective recycling system would not be something out of reach for the university.
My first specific proposal for the new recycling system is to have readily available recycling bins both in the dorms and around campus. The dorm that I currently live in has attempted to make the shift towards having a good recycling system, yet they aren’t quite there yet. When I go downstairs and walk past the trash bins on the first floor of my dorm (10 floors in all), they are piled high with not only garbage but also an abundance of materials that could be recycled and reused for future production. In my opinion, and many students’ opinions alike, this is a very big problem that has potential to be fixed within reasonable cost and effort. This trash can example is partially a result of student laziness, yet it is also a result of the University’s laziness as well. It would not be that expensive to put both garbage cans and recycling bins in every hall of each floor of the dorms, and the outcome would probably be much greater than the recycling bins downstairs. I believe that the main reason students do not recycle is because of the effort that it takes. Each person is given one trash can and not many students are very inclined to separate all of their trash and recycling into two bins so that they can walk all the way downstairs to put them into the correct bins. If there were bins on each floor I believe that students would be more likely to use the available services. I personally would get involved with the recycling system if all I had to do was take my bottle down the hall and toss it in a bin.
The proposal I have just discussed is focused on the dorms of the University, however, I think it would be great to get this system, or one similar to it, to be in full effect campus-wide. The campus would be a much more environmentally friendly place if next to every trash can all across campus they also had a recycling can. Some companies even produce garbage cans that have two separate flaps, one for recyclable materials and one for waste, which would not change the look of the campus very much. The University does do this in some ways already, such as having paper recycling bins next to the newspaper stands so people do not throw away unwanted paper. This is how it should be all over campus though, not just near a place where recyclable materials are highly available.
The second proposal that I have is targeted towards the involvement and support of students along with the cafeteria and dining hall services of DU. I think that they should create a compost system in the dining halls and cafeterias in all of the dormitories on campus. This would not only need to be created by the University and/or the food companies such as Sodexho, yet student support would need to be at a high level for it to work. Everyday there is an absolutely ridiculous amount of food that is left on trays, brought into the kitchen, and simply thrown away. This food could be reused and could be of great value to the environment and maybe even to the University. In Colorado Springs, Colorado College has a similar compost system to the one I am proposing to the University. In the dining hall, any food that has not touched meat can be scraped off of a plate and placed into a compost bin. This bin is then composted and when ready, given to local farmers to be used for growing on their farms. In return, Colorado College visibly sees these benefits by receiving fresh fruit and vegetables from the farms that they give the composted soil to. EVIDENCE.
This would not be a very hard system to implement at the University of Denver and along with it would come excellent benefits. The first benefit would be a low amount of wasted food. Wasting food is never a good thing and with a system like this, at least the things that are not eaten will be put towards another positive result. The second benefit would be that the composting system would create less work for the dining hall employees. If students involved themselves in the food recycling system, the dishes would not be as dirty, benefiting the people who wash the students’ dishes each day. Another benefit would be the healthy fruits and vegetables that the students can eat in the cafeteria. There may not be many local farmers nearby in Denver; however it would still not be very expensive to transport the composted soil to a farm in Colorado that could benefit from it. As a result of donating this rich soil to farmers, the cafeteria food would be healthier, more appealing, and would have a wider variety to choose from. Overall, the benefits of this proposed composting system would be very substantial and very visible to the campus.
As talked about before, this compost system would not be very difficult to organize and create on the University of Denver campus. In fact, a group of students have already started to gain support of students for this type of system. The Environmental Awareness Learning Living Community has decided to try and start a composting program in the cafeterias on campus. So far they have been surveying students about what they know about composting, how they feel about it, and whether they would be willing to take part in such a system. I was personally surveyed in the Centennial Halls cafeteria and have seen them around surveying other students as well. Ultimately the surveying is creating awareness among the student body, because without support from the students in the dining halls, the system would be pointless. The eager LLC hopes to get a compost system up and running as soon as possible at DU. This example of students supporting composting really shows how student involvement can create change on a campus when the University is not doing things right. If the student body learns more about this potential program and agrees with the concept, I would expect a system like this to launch in the near future as long as the University supports it too.
In conclusion, I feel that the University of Denver really needs to change its current system regarding recycling. Students would definitely recycle more if there were recycling bins on every floor of the dorms and all over campus. I think if the students were informed about the concept and benefits of a composting system they would be eager to participate in that as well. The possibilities for transforming the campus into a better, environmentally friendly place are endless, yet I think the two proposals I have discussed are very achievable in an easy, cost-friendly way that will be supported by students. Hopefully in the future there will be recycling programs and composting systems campus-wide, but for now, all we can do is inform people of the ideas that could be accomplished and the benefits that would come with them.