Recycling
Garbage isn’t something most Americans want to think about every day, but managing the nearly 230 million tons we generate each year has daily environmental and economic consequences. Successful integrated waste management, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, considers how to prevent, recycle, and manage solid waste in ways that most effectively protect human health and the environment. This means evaluating local impacts of solid waste, and then selecting and combining the most appropriate waste management options. While America is making gains in the effort to reduce the amount of waste produced each year and to improve the way we deal with garbage, there is still work to do.
The raw materials we recycle have value to manufacturers, and thus can create a revenue stream for fundraising. Recycling events are also great ways to get communities working together, and to educate all ages in the process.
Activities that you can implement on campus or in your community include:
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Collect recyclables on campus and deliver to a recycling center (e.g., telephone books, paper, aluminum cans)
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Hold an e-cycling event to recycle old cell phones, computers, laptops, etc.
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With administration approval, set up a composting station at your college
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Ask the administration to develop a Waste in the Workplace system on your campus
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See www.kab.org/ptk for examples and other activities
