Proponents of recycling have been saying for years how easy it is to recycle, and they are right. It is, except of course for RPI students. How difficult can it be for a professor, student, or faculty member to simply toss an aluminum can, a plastic container, or a newspaper into the allotted bin? It can be next to impossible when the appropriate containers either do not exist or are nearly impossible to find.
Recycling is the simplest way to help minimize waste and conserve natural resources, but, unfortunately, RPI does not provide students the means to do it. While there are some recycling baskets on campus they are sparsely located and often do not accept all possible materials. Recycling bins for aluminum cans are fairly visible around campus; depositories for other forms of recyclable materials such as plastics and papers, however, are limited in circulation.
The locale of bins around campus also establishes major obstacles for those who seek to help to conserve the planet’s resources. In high traffic areas such as the DCC near the new Jazzman’s Café, recycling bins for plastics are not available, and, in fact, there is not a single plastics container in the entire DCC. Heavily traveled areas, especially the food kiosks, should be priority locales to situate recycling facilities. However, across the RPI campus this rationale is failing as food distribution points such as the library café and the DCC either do not have recycling bins at all or in the general vicinity.
Sadly, the Institute’s failure to adequately provide recycling depositories is hurting everyone. Most people will only recycle at their convenience; therefore, those responsible for controlling the availability of recycling services must take the appropriate action to ensure this simple act of preservation can be promptly and properly achieved.
