Never refuse to reuse: The importance of recycling on campus

There are approximately 120 recycling bins on the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) campus. Throughout the Bayou Building alone, there are a total of 55 recycling bins: 35 blue bins provided for paper or plastic bottles depending on the information label, and 20 tan bins available for aluminum cans. The Recreation and Wellness Center and the STEM Building both have 20 each. The Student Services and Classroom Building, Delta, and Arbor Buildings make up the remaining 25.

The issue in regards to recycling at UHCL is not a lack of resources but an abundance of negligence that is taking place on campus. There are approximately 9,000 students attending UHCL, yet on the average school day, there is a high probability that not a single one of the 120 bins stationed throughout campus are even halfway full of recycled material. Often when a recycling bin is available next to a trash receptacle, the recycling still ends up in the trash.

It’s true a more evenly redistribution of the recycling bins could be helpful as well a more prominent placement for some of the containers. Another issue is the inconsistency of the grouping of the recycling bins. For example, when someone locates a recycling area it would be helpful that all three containers were present: paper, plastic and aluminum.

It would also be helpful if all UHCL buildings had the same recycling bins as those used in the STEM Building and Recreation and Wellness Center. For example, different types of bins placed throughout the Bayou Building are often sporadic with virtually no structure, while the bins stationed throughout the STEM Building and Recreation and Wellness Center have a simple and convenient design: a three-way-compartment. The center is for trash, right for plastic products and left for paper. This setup provides students, staff and faculty suitable options and the assurance that if they make their way over to the recycling area they will be able to dispose of their used products.

Even though improving each of these factors could potentially benefit UHCL’s recycling program, ultimately none of these things are going to matter if people don’t consciously choose to care about the earth they inhabit.

The United States produces an estimated 30 percent of the planet’s total waste. In 2018, the Texas Commission On Environmental Quality declared that approximately 34.73 million tons of solid waste was sent to landfills in the state of Texas and that the official Texas landfill capacity will be reached in only 56 more years. On average, it can take a landfill up to 10,000 years to decompose. Not only do landfills decompose at a sluggish rate but the ones stationed in the U.S release an estimated 168 tons of carbon dioxide and produce the third largest source of methane emissions.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection estimates that the average college student produces 640 pounds of solid waste a year. This indicates that the UHCL campus, which had an approximate headcount of 9,000 students enrolled in the fall 2018 semester, could potentially produce almost 3,000 tons of solid waste per year.

It is crucial that students, faculty and staff of UHCL engage in proactive efforts that can prevent devastating damage to the environment. UHCL needs to come together as a community to hold each other accountable and work toward a more efficient and conscious recycling program to benefit not only the beautiful environment in which UHCL resides on but for the planet and its future.