Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

CINDY BLOCK

The focus of my project will be on recycling around campus and in the dorms. For the past month that I’ve been on campus, I’ve noticed that recycling isn’t a practiced manner here. Although there are recycling bins EVERYWHERE, even recycling bins that differentiate between which recyclables in which bin, students still are attached to the garbage can for some reason. Plus, my dorm building has a gigantic garbage dumpster but 3 average sized cans for recyclables for the whole building? When I open the garbage dumpster door, it’s a mixture of recyclables and garbage.

For the project, I plan on taking pictures of the garbage/recycle bins in multiple areas. I plan on taking pictures at my dorm building since they need to purchase a real recycling dumpster. I’m definitely going to take a picture of the inside of the dumpster to show that the building just throws everything in there. I’m going to take pictures at DUC, so a picture of inside the garbage and a picture of inside the recycling bin. I’m going to take pictures at subway because the last time that I recall subway doesn’t have a recycling bin. To add on to pictures, I’ll capture the litter around campus and the empty recycling cans next to the overflowing garbage cans for a little emphasis.

My photos will be taken with different lighting (at least I’ll try), different angle like close up, bird’s eye view, worm’s eye view, etc. I would like to be able to make the photos look emphasized along with my purpose to its not just a boring picture of garbage.

My goal is to propose, that as a campus and a community, we pay a little more attention to what’s being thrown where. Hence to stop littering and throw the recyclable items into the recycling can since it is next to the garbage can. Also, it’d be nice if the university would notice that at the dorm building they need something larger to use to let dorm residents throw there recyclables instead of the average sized recycle bin. The purpose is to make peers, faculty, and administration realize how lazy we are to just throw things into two different containers that are next to each other rather than just shoving it into the garbage bin.

In order to get information in this essay, I’ll need to know the university’s recycle program, how effective it is. I’ll ask random students how often they honestly recycle or if they care at all. I can do observations at DUC on how many kids recycle or just throw it in one bin over a time period. I’m going to try people that are on opposite sides of recycles, one person that’s passionate about it and another that could care less, so that I can have multiple perspectives in the essay.

Recycling at Western Kentucky University is beginning to be more noticed. There are multiple signs throughout campuses and classrooms indicating students to recycle anything they can. As a part of “going green”, WKU has a club called “Reduce Your Use”, which focuses on using resources wisely and using as little amount of energy as possible. In 2009, a recycling crew was formed to help grab attention of what can be recycled and to personally pick up recyclables. WKU also offers a website page about what can be recycled, where it can be recycled, and the do’s and don’ts of recycling to inform students more about how to be aware of their actions. Western Kentucky University is trying to persuade students into being more environmentally friendly. But how effective is the University’s attempts?

At Western Kentucky University, each dorm room is equipped with two black garbage bins and one recycling bin. It is useful that the university provides both garbage bins for students so they can differentiate whatever trash they have. WKU also provides places in or to the side of the building for students to take out their garbage. Although students are given specified trash cans for garbage and recyclables, it appears based off the dorm rooms I’ve been in, students have not segregated between food and recyclables.

Bemis Lawrence residence hall is attempting to persuade girls into recycling by posting up 11” x 8” signs, although while waiting for the elevators, most girls are on their phones or talking to a friend. WKU has ideas and ways to help students recycle and to recycle into detailed between paper, plastic and aluminum, but I have been aware that it is not cared for by a majority of university students considering how empty recycling bins are and how overflowed the garbage bins are. Perhaps if the residence halls created monthly competitions with more advertisement, then residents would overall be more eco-friendly. Even in classrooms and on the recycling cans outside, there are signs saying exactly what can be thrown into the can but it seems as it is too much effort for students to do.

When dorm residents are to take out their trash, they need to go to the lobby and sort their recyclables piece by piece into each of these separate recycling cans. However, while I’ve been a student at WKU for about 2 months, I have yet to see ONE person put their recyclables in those bins, or even sort through their dorm room recycling bin to put into the lobby bins. Katie King, freshman at WKU, comments, “It takes too much time to sort out my recycling bin when I can just throw it into the dumpster. I would recycle but I don’t see why they (WKU) cannot have a recycling dumpster as well,”

The dumpster is where dorm residents are supposed to take just their garbage after they separate their recycling into the different bins. However, the dumpster is a mixture of all kinds of garbage, from food to boxes to plastic bags. Dorm residents find it easier to go outside with their garbage bins and to dump it into the dumpster.  Western Kentucky University makes many attempts to help students be aware of recycling but students have not taken a serious interest into it. Every week I throw my garbage into the dumpster, there all always boxes and plastic bags in there. If Western Kentucky University focused more on single-stream recycling, such as a recycling dumpster, then students would recycle more effectively. it can be a challenge for the students that did not recycle before at home to recycle in detail on campus. Single-stream recycling would be more effective and would used better throughout campus.

In the building of Cherry Hall, there are multiple bins for recycling, each labeled for which type of recyclables can be in it, for students walking in and out of class to recycle. Throughout campus, Western Kentucky University offers these recycling bins in academic buildings, like in the dorms. It’s great that WKU has many recycling cans around campus for students however the idea of recycling is just posted on posters rather than voiced out to the community which would bring more awareness to students.

All around the Western Kentucky University campus, there are multiple recycling and garbage cans that look similar but the recycling can has a blue top and specifies what can be thrown in there. But while walking around campus, I have noticed students throw recycling cups into the garbage can because the garbage cans have an opened top but the recycling cans need to be pushed to throw things in. Recycling programs at WKU offer information with posters and their websites to enlighten students about recycling and what to recycle, as well with the labels on the recycling bins, yet students have not acknowledged the easiness in recycling.

Dana Echert is a freshman at Western Kentucky University and has always been aware of recycling. She grew up with a family that segregated their recyclables into paper, plastic, and aluminum and her family always did environmentally-friendly actions that either saved energy or reducing pollution and landfills. “For my whole life recycling has been seen as an easy thing to do. I never felt the need to be lazy and throw all my trash together. I like that WKU offers recycling cans all over campus and in my dorm room. Although my roommate doesn’t care for recycling, I make sure we recycle in the lobby and around campus together even though it’s hard to at places like Subway or DUC Food Court because they don’t have recycling cans there.”

Leah Lewis is a freshman at Western Kentucky University. She is not concerned or even that aware of recycling on campus at WKU. “My family has garbage and recycling bins at home, but we do not pay too much attention to what we throw in there. I don’t care too much about recycling because I don’t see the big deal with throwing it in the garbage bin. Recycling at my dorm is especially hard because it gets annoying that I have to take out each piece of recyclable to put into the can. To be honest, I just throw it all into the dumpster.” Leah says she knows some effects of not recycling but is not always told to recycle while here at school. She also is not always paying attention to the posters around campus so the thought of recycling is not a habit to her but a duty.

Western Kentucky University is making great attempts to becoming more green as a community with their clubs, organizations, websites, and other resources. The university offers recycling cans as well recycling cans that specify which type of recyclable can be in it. However WKU does not have cardboard recycle bins within the residence halls so many residents forcibly throw cardboard into the dumpster. WKU’s efforts are slowly making an impact but could encourage recycling more throughout campus and within residence halls so that as a campus, all students and faculty could be more environmentally friendly. To create better recycling, students should be aware of how much they use that they don't need. If students reused as much as possible and did not use that much in the beginning then recycling would be minimalized on campus. Students just need to become aware of the negative effects of not recycling and need to realize that it is easy.
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If I had to re-do this project, I would have focused more into campus events and clubs that involve recycling so I can get more perspectives and detail. For example, I would have attended the “Reduce Your Use” event where they showed a movie on south lawn and I would have interviewed a couple members of the club to get more detailed information about what they do to help WKU as a community.

A difficult factor within the project was capturing photos that tell a story about campus recycling without being repetitive. I went around campus a few days and observed different places there are recycle bins and noticed where bins overflow on campus. Overall, I figured out a way to have my pictures have its own story but it took me a few days to realize what it should be. I figured out what photos to take by figuring out where recycling is most noticeable around campus for me. My residence hall is trying to make their residents recycle better and more, yet some of the pictures illustrate that it is not working completely. I also wanted to take a couple pictures around campus, like on a path to class or in an academic building so more people who are not living in residence halls could relate to the topic. I wanted to make sure that the photos I was capturing could tell a story and have an informative caption that is able relate to the photo.

My story was not a narrative so ordering my photos did not have too much logic. I first figured out what captions I would do with each picture, wrote them out and went on from there. I made sure my first photo, which was a general recycling symbol, would be an introduction for Western Kentucky University’s attempt at recycling. The middle photos included where around campus you can see recycling being used or misused, as well with a couple opposite perspectives. I ended with the overflowing trash can to give an impact for an ending. I wanted to reader to understand that WKU is trying to be more eco-friendly and is making gradual progress, but the campus needs improvement still.

I came up with the text for each caption by looking at the photos I have taken, and considering how it could tell a story. I decided whether the picture has to do with a program, with on campus recycling, or dorm recycling. I looked up on Western Kentucky University’s website, what clubs and organizations there were for recycling in order to get more information to include in captions. I used personal experience of what I have seen around campus and used other people’s opinions on recycling for information.

I did my draft fully to the best of my ability. I feel like my pictures are well with telling a story, and I think my captions include a lot of information. I think I could have been able to get more perspectives from organizations and clubs on campus to include in my story. I feel like in my draft, I had a bit of repetition because it was all about recycling and whether it is working or not, but overall I think my draft was good.

My project’s purpose was to inform readers about how effective recycling is on campus. I think my purpose was shown throughout my photo essay because it shows that WKU is trying with many recycling cans around campus, and clubs dedicated to recycling, but it also shows that not many students seem to care about recycling since they throw recyclables in the dumpster.

During this project I realized that WKU is has many ways to students to recycle with informative recycling cans all over campus. I now believe that if WKU was more vocal about recycling then it would be practiced more throughout campus. I also realized how much recycling information is around campus, like posters, signs, and on all the recycling bins. As a student, I am now more aware of my recycling practices and those of my friends. As a student, I will now recycle correctly and also will tell others to do the same instead of being lazy.