This past Friday marked the end of the first two weeks of Recycle Mania -- a friendly competition between 17 top American universities' recycling programs -- that challenges each school to see who can collect the largest amount of recyclables from residence halls, on-campus apartments and dining halls in 10 weeks. And what a glorious two weeks it was!
The Dartmouth community, despite little promotion, still managed to place third, totalling an average of 10.6 pounds of recyclables per student so far. Behind only Harvard (11.1) and University of Miami (13.2), Dartmouth's score is impressive. While organized contests, environmental leadership and even Dartmouth can often feel like enough of an irritation, the combination of the three can just be agony. But there is something to be gleaned from Recycle Mania and recycling in general. Instead of waving this off like another unread blitz that slowly makes its way down your in-box, take this moment to make a change.
As an ECO intern and Dartmouth's representative to Recycle Mania, I pride myself on above average environmental awareness. And though I do pause to put that Fresh Samantha container into the proper bin in Novack, I admit that I am by no means an Edward Abbey-style enviro-anarchist. Hopefully what Recycle Mania will teach us is that we don't have to be that to make a difference.
Recycling as we know it came into existence when the state of Washington opened the first government-funded buy-back centers for recyclables in 1972. Fifteen years later, Rhode Island implemented mandatory recycling laws while San Francisco was recycling over 25 percent of its commercial and residential waste. Since then, residential recycling as a policy has come under attack from George W. Bush to the city of New York. Opponents of recycling often claim that the amount of resources that go into sustaining recycling programs are not justified by the ultimate outcome of even the most successful program. However, communities around the nation have shown that their recycling programs can be cost-competitive with traditional disposal options -- i.e., the dump. Even where recycling programs are not run as efficiently, there still exist important reasons why the process should not be abandoned.
Recycling has positively impacted the green thinking of students, politicians and soccer-moms alike. Over the past 30 years, environmental awareness has moved from the realm of the esoteric hippy to the Wednesday night dinner table in Poughkeepsie. Our generation and the generation after us are being brought up in a culture where global warming is acknowledged and has become a significant topic of concern. A local recycling program encourages people to get involved and informed. It also promotes the first two tenets of the Environmental "triangle." Too frequently do we forget that reduce and reuse come before the last step, recycle. Although it may seem second-gradish, remembering these first steps saves the environment and your wallet. While we are all guilty of producing excess waste -- we do live in America -- we can strive to be more conscious about what and how much of everything we use.
Recycle Mania runs until the last week of April. While winning the competition's trophy (and trouncing Harvard) would be great, there is a lot more to be gleaned from the next two months than the raw anticipation of waiting for the results to appear in this column. For the next eight weeks, give yourself a little bit of a mental workout. Instead of succumbing to those initial instincts of throwing your empty Odwalla bottle into the most heaping bin of rubbish, take the time to seek out a designated recycling container. We at ECO understand that not everyone thinks it's hip to carry around a mug or Tupperware, but we don't understand apathy. As these winter months drag on, get your head out of your books and the basements every now and then, and look around you. Whether you recycle your cans, walk instead of drive to class or even just turn off the light when you leave the room, there's a way you can help and a reason why you should care. While recycling has become an important gesture for many, it may not be for you. Find something that you feel will make a difference, and do it.
