Philip Brooks . . .

November 20, 2000 . . .

CU 101, Sect. 001 . . .

After attending Clemson University for a few weeks, I noticed that a great deal of recyclable material was being thrown away. I wanted to do something about this, but I was unsure of how big of an impact I could make. I thought of a couple ideas and went to talk to Andy Anderson, the head of the recycling center here at Clemson. He told a few of my classmates and me that he could place some recycling bins in the dorms, which should increase the amount of material that is recycled around campus. This was a great idea and we all agreed to help with the recycling bins. Two weeks later the bins were delivered and they were immediately put to use by the students. The bins were placed on every floor right next to each trashcan, but the only material that could be placed in them was aluminum cans. Many of the students have glass or plastic bottles that could also be recycled, but with these certain bins that recycling was not possible. This was obviously a problem, but at least the recycling had begun. Within the first week the bins were half full with aluminum cans, and the number of cans in the trash greatly decreased. However, within three weeks people began to forget about the recycling bins and started throwing everything away again. I noticed a large number of aluminum cans sitting on the top of an overflowing trash can with a nearly empty recycling bin sitting right there. I put the cans in the recycling bin and moved the bin a little closer to the trash can, thinking this may emphasize what the recycling bin is there for. Overall, the project is a good beginning to campus wide recycling.

In 1998, 64 million aluminum cans were recycled by Americans alone. This means that 62.5% of all aluminum cans are being recycled, which is a large percentage that still has room for growth. Every aluminum can made today is manufactured with more than half of its material coming from recycled aluminum. It is amazing to know that a single aluminum can could be used, recycled, and used again almost six times in one year. It only takes sixty days for an aluminum can to be recycled and back on the shelf for resale. This makes aluminum one of the most recycled and most recyclable . . . . . . . materials in the world.

My personal reaction to the recycling project is that it is a good start to a campus wide recycling project. After looking at the recycling bins after the first week, I thought the project was going to get off to a great start and that the amount of material that was recycled would grow as time went on. I later discovered that the amount of material that was being recycled soon began to decrease and people ignored the recycling bins.

The project was rather interesting and fun, but getting the bins into place was a little harder than I believed it should have been. The guy in charge of the recycling center here on campus, Andy Anderson, was a little slow at getting the bins into the dorms. This, however, could mean that he was busy with other recycling projects which would even further enhance the recycling here on campus.

I would definitely do a project like this again because of the simplicity of the project and the benefits the project rewards to society. Every extra can that is recycled is one less in the land fills, and even though it is one tiny aluminum can, it still helps. I also learned a lot about the process of recycling aluminum cans and how easily they are recycled.

Some enhancements that could be put forward into this project include creating campus-wide awareness of how recycling helps the environment and helps each individual. Seminars and signs could be placed around the campus to create this awareness and bins could be placed in strategic places to encourage recycling. This would make recycling convenient and easy for students and I think the amount of material that is recycled on campus would be greatly increased.

Aluminum Association: The Aluminum Can. Online. Available: