Student group continues to
EMILY FORD
News Writer
Students at Saint Mary's have been working to expand the school's recycling program. The College's current program is the result of initiative taken by past classes, according to Susan Duff, professor of biology and advisor to the school's chapter of the Student Environmental Action Coalition.
"At least four years ago, the environmental club started to try to push through recycling and the first thing that they did was to try to recycle on their own and try to get it through the administration. So they started this small recycling project," Duff said. "We collected at the back of the Science Hall stairs because nobody would let us collect in the dorms. Finally, a couple of years ago, they allowed us to collect in the dorms as long as the students were doing it."
The College presently recycles paper products and aluminum, but Duff has noticed an increased amount of plastic bottles in campus vending machines. She worries about the unnecessary wasting of plastic, she said.
"It's energy, it's oil going down the drain. Oil is money and oil is energy," Duff said.
Last year, Duff and a group of students began recycling plastic and glass, with bags donated by Building Services and the use of a vehicle lent by the Facilities Department. According to Marilyn Rajski, director of building services, both departments helped research a comprehensive recycling program for the College with a local waste management service.
They tried to enlist additional support from the College by proposing a program for glass and plastic recycling in every building on campus. The proposal, sponsored by SEAC and presented by Teresa Lorenz, Kellie Mark, Stephanie Shevik and Mary Rath, outlined requirements for the program, including contracting with a recycling pick-up service and placing accessible recycling bins in all campus buildings.
"They put in a proposal that went into the budget to see if they could get it recommended … We never heard. We kept thinking it had to get to the Board of Directors. Somewhere in there, we got the impression that they thought it would actually get through … It had to go through the Campus Budget Committee. And we thought we had the support of the Campus Budget Committee, but, in fact we found out later that it never got through that," Duff said.
Duff added she was told that a campus-wide recycling plan of that magnitude would be very expensive, requiring a new position on Saint Mary's staff to oversee it. The program would cost approximately $10,000 to start, covering the cost of bins and transportation to a recycling plant.
In April, after the recycling proposal's rejection, Saint Mary's signed the Earth Charter, which calls for a declaration of responsibility to community, ecological integrity and social and economic justice. These responsibilities include the prevention of pollution and recycling to reduce waste.
According to Melanie Engler, director of public relations at Saint Mary's, the College is making a concerted effort to act in the best interests of the school and the environment.
"From everything I can gather, it appears that Saint Mary's administrators worked hard to find effective alternatives to the proposed program in the face of budgetary restrictions that precluded the College from contracting with an off-campus recycling service. It also appears that SEAC is doing their part to help `reduce, reuse and recycle the materials used in production and consumption systems…' as stated in the Earth Charter. It's a great team effort," Engler said.
This year, Saint Mary's senior Emily Miller organized a committee to review the Earth Charter, the rejected recycling proposal and the College's Master Plan.
"I put together the committee who is going to look at the Earth Charter and our proposal and the Master Plan. … We want to be very organized so that we can look at all angles and decide what's best for the school and then actually present it to the administrators," Miller said.
Until a formal recycling program is passed, Miller and other student volunteers will continue to collect glass and plastic every other Friday. The success of the recycling efforts is dependent upon the amount of volunteers. Miller is optimistic that her fellow students will become involved, she said.
"So far from the response that I've had, this year student recycling is going to be really successful. … I think we can really get somewhere if we organize [ourselves]. We can show the administration that campus-wide recycling would be beneficial in both the short and long run," Miller said.
Senior Katie Bacone, who has been a life-long recycler, encourages other students to volunteer.
"It would be great if more people got involved. You don't just want to push it off for other people to do…I'm hoping that more people realize that they have to take care of their own backyard, to just take responsibility," Bacone said.
All News Stories for Monday, October 14, 2002
