Today, recycling is more popular than ever and increasingly found on college campuses across the country. But what does this mean for our college students and how can you make a difference?
On campuses all over the country, recycle bins are popping up next to the out-of- fashion trash cans. The ugly garbage can is so 1990s. Today it’s hip to recycle, and there are so many reasons to jump on the recycling band wagon.
Have you ever heard any student complain that there are too many jobs available? No, of course not, students can use all the jobs they can get.
When you choose to recycle, you are helping more than just the planet, you are helping to create jobs for everyone. Recycling creates jobs simply by producing work in the plants that process the recyclables items. It takes a work force to run, manage and maintain a recycling plant.
National Recycling Coalition found that recycling creates about 1.1 million jobs in the U.S. alone. As a college student trying to do your part, you should feel good about that.
Choosing to recycle as a student helps shape the future. Think about where all the trash ends up. Picture the volume of plastic bottles, mountains of cans and hills of paper materials.
When you decide to recycle as opposed to just throwing your pop cans, water bottles and newspapers in the out of style trash cans, you are changing the face of the planet.
Scientist are constantly finding new ways to reuse the recyclables. Because of that, the NRC states that we are displacing 70 million tons of material from landfills and incinerators just in 2000 alone to be recycled and reused.
That is a whole lot of trash that used to just end up as a new geographical land feature in a city near you. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that it will help to sustain the environment for future generations. Yes, that means you, the student, and your future family.
One more thing to make you think before you act when it comes to recycling.
You the student can help complete the loop by purchasing and using recycled goods. Demand more of these items, and manufacturers will keep up to meet those demands and thus making better recycled products.
So the next time you buy, use, and discard any item, think about where that item came from and where it will end up. For college students anywhere in the U.S., there are recycling receptacles everywhere.
All it takes in a conscious effort on the part of students to change the future.