2008 Woodie Awards
Recycling determined by quantity
Letter to the editor
Issue date: 9/25/07 Section: Opinion
The article "Bye-bye, bottles" was in a week that I have heard someone discuss the negative effect of bottles on our environment. The first occurrence was that the mayor of San Francisco decided to ban plastic water bottles because he saw how much waste they produced. I have to say that I was very troubled by Bill Canney's comments that he doesn't get rid of plastic bottles because of "margin sales."
The reason that I find this comment scary is that a not-for-profit organization has the flexibility of not worrying about profits. Also, these organizations are usually on the leading edge of social and environmental improvement.
It is this disregard of what is right that saddens me. It is not just food service but almost all of management here at SIUE that has to set an example in reducing our daily impact on the environment.
I went to a community college that stressed recycling, because in being a state-funded organization, they had a quota to meet. At that school there were as many recycling bins as there were trash cans.
While you can find recycling bins scattered around campus and around Cougar Village, this is not enough. In one week, the occupants of one apartment produce more than enough recycling to fill the bins for aluminum, paper and plastic that are provided to us. There are 240 apartments on the 500 side and there are less than 10 recycling locations. How can the school honestly say that they provide adequate recycling opportunities when there are nowhere near enough bins to handle the volume that Cougar Village can produce?
For a school that is so proud of their academic and athletic achievements, I believe it is time for them to be proud of their environmental achievements too. We live on state protected land; shouldn't the school be doing something more to ensure it thrives?
If Mr. Canney isn't going to reduce how many bottles he is going to sell because of the "margin sales," then please be logical and provide many more recycling bins for bottles.
This school has many aluminum recycling bins, but all of our vending machines dispense plastic bottles.
The situation we are in is because of poor planning by the school and that some people just don't care or are too lazy to make the journey to try to find a bin for plastic. Provide more recycling bins and the volume of recycled material this school produces will increase.
The SIUE community has an opportunity to set an example. Shouldn't we send the right one?
Daniel P. Linkowski
Economics
Senior
The reason that I find this comment scary is that a not-for-profit organization has the flexibility of not worrying about profits. Also, these organizations are usually on the leading edge of social and environmental improvement.
It is this disregard of what is right that saddens me. It is not just food service but almost all of management here at SIUE that has to set an example in reducing our daily impact on the environment.
I went to a community college that stressed recycling, because in being a state-funded organization, they had a quota to meet. At that school there were as many recycling bins as there were trash cans.
While you can find recycling bins scattered around campus and around Cougar Village, this is not enough. In one week, the occupants of one apartment produce more than enough recycling to fill the bins for aluminum, paper and plastic that are provided to us. There are 240 apartments on the 500 side and there are less than 10 recycling locations. How can the school honestly say that they provide adequate recycling opportunities when there are nowhere near enough bins to handle the volume that Cougar Village can produce?
For a school that is so proud of their academic and athletic achievements, I believe it is time for them to be proud of their environmental achievements too. We live on state protected land; shouldn't the school be doing something more to ensure it thrives?
If Mr. Canney isn't going to reduce how many bottles he is going to sell because of the "margin sales," then please be logical and provide many more recycling bins for bottles.
This school has many aluminum recycling bins, but all of our vending machines dispense plastic bottles.
The situation we are in is because of poor planning by the school and that some people just don't care or are too lazy to make the journey to try to find a bin for plastic. Provide more recycling bins and the volume of recycled material this school produces will increase.
The SIUE community has an opportunity to set an example. Shouldn't we send the right one?
Daniel P. Linkowski
Economics
Senior
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