CU 101

The project I chose to undertake regarding the Sustainable Universities project was recycling. I chose to obtain recycling bins from the recycling center and place them in the dorm so that the other students living here would have an easy place to recycle. I determined from my own actions that many pounds of recyclables could be collected each week if recycling was made easy enough to make "lazy college students" take part in the project.

I began my project by asking for a recycling bin to be placed in the dorm. In addition I placed fliers on each floor that described the project and also gave the location of the bins. Then I began collecting the recyclables each time the bin became full. Amazingly, the bin, which was the size of a city trash bin, filled up at least once a week. The bin even filled up twice in one week, which was very exciting considering college students were the ones who were recycling!

There were several reasons I chose to undertake a recycling project. These reasons included waste reduction, cutting back on the use of natural resources, helping the overall environment, and reducing the number of pollutants distributed into the atmosphere. Each day, thousands of pounds of potentially recyclable products are dumped into landfills instead of being recycled. According to one website Americans account for 25% of the total wastes produced in the world. However, if each American could recycle only one pound of their current wastes each month that would be approximately 3,312,000,000 pounds of waste reduced each year!!!!! I have collected approximately 150 pounds of recyclable materials so far, which constitutes approximately 1.2 pounds per person in the dorm. If every person at Clemson recycled 1.2 pounds per month, that would be 172, 800 pounds per year!

It is clear that recycling benefits the environment, economy, and people’s everyday lives. Without recycling, the world would be a much drearier place, and our natural resources would run out much sooner than should be necessary. Hopefully, with recycling in effect throughout the world, we, as a united world, can begin to rebuild the natural surroundings of our world, beginning with our sustainable schools.

Sustainable Universities Initiative. November 14, 2000

CU 101

The sustainability project that I chose to undertake was beginning a recycling program in my dorm. I decided that by doing this project, I would be helping the school, environment, and community. I also wanted to see if the average college student would go out of his way to take part in a project that could possibly affect the beauty of the school campus and the surrounding community.

Starting the project was a very big hassle. The man who is over recycling would not deliver the bins needed to even start the project. However, I took it upon myself to locate acceptable bins to use and started the project anyway. After the initial problem of finding bins, the project became relatively easy. I learned that when given the opportunity, people actually do care about the appearance of the earth, and will recycle if it is made easy for them. I also learned that in order to get something done, never trust anybody else to help.

I would do this project again if I were asked to. I found that the most difficult part of the project was getting started. After starting the project, it is really up to the general public to make the project a success. If the correct steps are taken in order to publicize the project, more than likely it will become successful.