For such an extremely liberal institution, it seems to me that Oxy lags behind in the area of environmental awareness and activism. Case-in-point: the dining facilities. The only apparent sustainable measure that Oxy dining has taken is providing a recycling system. Even so, many students do not take advantage. Lack of caring on students’ parts is partly, (probably mostly), to blame. At the Cooler, it is easier for students to just throw all the waste from their meal (cups, bottles, leftover food, wrappers) in the garbage can rather than separating it. While it’s not hard to just throw containers in the clearly labeled bins, it does require a small amount of effort that some students are unwilling to put in. Confusion may be a factor as well. I am still unclear about what types of plastic Oxy recycles. My freshman year RAs told us at our very first hall spread that plastic numbers 1 and 2 (PETE and HDPE) were the only types Oxy recycled and to please throw the higher-numbered plastics in the garbage. Since then I’ve been told that all plastics can be recycled. This is an important distinction because many plastic containers in the dining commons are plastic #5, polypropylene: beverage containers, yogurt containers, and the Cooler salad/fruit containers (I think). If Oxy does not currently recycle all plastics, I think that is an important step to take, and should not be too difficult to implement. I my hometown, the city picks up plastic #1 and #2 from the curb on garbage day, and the higher numbered plastics can be taken to a different facility by the individual. I would assume there is a similar option in LA.
Recycling is such an important concern because SO much plastic gets used at Marketplace and Cooler. Large plastic to-go containers are very readily available at the Marketplace and most students don’t think twice about taking one; some even use them when eating at the facility. Similarly, to-go cups and utensils are way more commonly used than the non-disposable ones. One way to improve this situation would be to have a very minor cost/penalty for taking a to-go container in the Marketplace, like charging a dollar to the student’s meal plan. While I’m sure that there would be huge administrative obstacles to actually implementing this, I think it would be a push in the right direction of getting students to at least be aware of the environmental impact of their habits.
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The college sustainability committee just set up a materials subcommittee to look at waste, food and recycling issues. We'll see if there are ways to improve recycling. Agree that its a shame that most of the time trash and recycling here get lumped together then separated off campus.
ReplyDeleteI actually disagree: out of the many departments on Oxy's campus, the dining facilities - specifically, the Marketplace - have been some of the most progressive in terms of sustainability efforts. I agree that the recycling policy at Oxy is confusing and leads to increased unncessary waste. However, the Marketplace has started using some compostable containers for their to-go special salads, as well as compostable to-go wrapping at the sandwich station. In addition, they continue to provide more local and organic options than even many larger universities offer.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I'm also greatly disappointed at this college's level of unnecessary waste. The recycling program desperately needs to be expanded, so that there are at least as many recycling receptacles as there are garbage cans. In addition, efforts should be made to cut down on waste in general, so that Oxy students are more conscious of the waste they produce. I agree that charging for to-go containers would cause some changes in behavior - but like you mentioned, it would be very difficult to overcome the oxy admins in this effort.
I agree that Oxy is an extremely wasteful college. In the 6th grade I went on a Catalina camping trip with my classmates. For our first dinner we were given a challenge: the group (we we divided into four groups) that created the least amount of waste would get an extra snorkeling adventure! So, every meal, all students would scrap the uneaten food/trash off their plates into a large bin. At the end of the week, they unloaded all the trash onto tarps. While I was more focused on winning a snorkeling adventure, looking back this is a great way to make people visually see the amount of waste they are capable of generating. While I know facilities can't keep our trash for a week, it would be interesting to do this type of demonstration so we can see the amount of waste we create just by eating. Today, there is this consumption-disappearance mentality. After we consume, we don't see where it goes. We don't see the landfills. This little experiment could give us a glimpse.
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