Recycling and compost bins (pictured above) are supposed to aid students in disposing their waste products in an eco-friendly manner , however those on Geneseo’s campus often end up in landfills (Michelle Samuels/Creative commons).
Recycling: it’s a hot button issue these days within and outside of college campuses. There’s lots of talk about saving the turtles and not using plastic straws, as well as remembering your reusable water bottle and using bamboo utensils and dishware. What about the efforts here, at Geneseo? Administration claims they are making valiant efforts to reduce waste and recycle effectively, but how are they really doing?
A new addition to the Geneseo waste-reduction family is the appearance of large compost bins in the Union and compostable containers in Fusion for stir fry and rice bowls. There are also some compost bins in residence halls. That’s it. Mary Jemison doesn’t have a compost bin near the rest of the trash cans and neither does Food Studio North. One would think that two of the three dining halls on campus, which are built solely for food consumption, would put a compost bin out for food disposal.
As for the residence hall bins, they are like puffs of smoke: there one minute, gone the next. Some students have commented that they haven’t even seen one in their residence hall yet this year. What’s the use of having compostable containers if there isn’t even a place for them in most buildings? Even without the fancy new compostable Tupperware, compost bins would still be useful for food scraps—not just in the Union, but in most buildings on campus.
As for recycling, that is contentious as well. On the Geneseo website it states, “non-recyclable items in a recycling bin contaminate the whole bin, causing it to be sent to the landfill.” The only way other non-recyclable items would contaminate a whole bin was if they processed the bin contents and then checked if any of it couldn’t have been recycled, which is counterintuitive. It’s different from food residues left on recyclable containers, which do cause issues.
Geneseo recycling bins clearly say to ensure no food waste is left on the container, but they fail to say that food waste can adulterate the entire bin, causing it to be sent to landfill. A simple rinse of your soda bottle or yogurt container solves that complication, but none of that extra information is given.
Even if your used plastics or metals do end up in the right bin with no issues, what happens after? It is no secret that Geneseo is notoriously ambiguous about most activities and waste management is no exception. On the Geneseo Campus Waste Management website, only two links actually work: the summary of waste storage requirements, which gives very little detail about what is actually being done with the waste, and the battery recycling page. All other PDFs or website links don’t exist or can’t be opened on their page.
As for the rest of the pages on recycling, they are promoting Geneseo’s exceptional recycling program and resources, not giving hard facts about the process. The students and faculty of Geneseo are ignorant of what exactly happens to all their garbage. Many students accept that Geneseo doesn’t even recycle—it all goes into landfill no matter what bin you put it in.
So, it seems that Geneseo’s efforts to build a more efficient, ecological community is falling short. Good attempts are being made, but it’s not enough to claim accomplishment. What can be done to improve Geneseo’s standards on reducing our waste and properly handling the waste we do have? It doesn’t have to be complicated, but it must come from us, the students. We won’t see the changes we want on campus—to try and save what little is left on our earth unless we push for it ourselves.