By Alex Moore

“I’ll call you when they arrive so you can come and see them.”

If anyone had been eavesdropping on this conversation, they would have thought perhaps we were talking about newborn twins. In fact, we were talking about recycling bins; brand new and shiny state-of-the art receptacles for waste. I would have been more excited had they been twins.

After two and a half years of dedication to this cause, our recycling bins have finally arrived.

Fall of 2007, student members of Progressive Students Union (soon to branch off to create an environment focused Students for a Greener Hofstra) circulated a petition thro0ughout the student body. This petition made three straightforward requests: a ban on styrofoam, a plate-first policy in our dining halls and visible recycling. Within a year we succeeded on the first two. Both focused on the dining service: Lackmann. Lackmann made a very clear effort to work with our recommendations to make changes and to address environmental sustainability. Since, Lackmann has continued to work with us in developing ideas and addressing the concerns that we bring forth.

The first two requests were easy enough to address with a few simple changes. Lackmann already possessed much of the chinaware and the kitchen facilities needed to implement the plates-first policy. The styrofoam issue could also quickly be solved. Entire cities in the US have been able to ban it. The Visible Recycling Program, however, would require reconfiguring our entire university’s waste management system.

Currently, the university pays Jamaica Ash to post-sort all of our trash for us. We produce as much waste as we want, we throw it all together and we sleep soundly knowing that all of our recyclables are being taken out for us. Too good to be true? Yes and no. First of all, let’s clarify: Jamaica Ash does sort through the university’s trash. Jamaica Ash pays for landfill space and incineration, while they are paid for the recyclables they find, so it is in Jamaica Ash’s best interest to be as efficient as possible. With that said, post-sorting recycling is likely to actually intercept about 20-50 percent of recyclables that come in with all of the waste. That means that the majority of recyclables are unnecessarily being incinerated/packed into landfills. The actual percentage of recyclables that can be extracted from a waste stream as contaminated as what’s in a dining room trash bin is certainly at the lower end of the scale, and the manpower that it takes to do efficient sorting of such trash makes it unprofitable. No matter how hard a post-sorting plant tries, no method is as efficient as pre-sorting (the system in The Netherlands) and realistically, no way is as easy.

Some of us recycled at home growing up; some of us didn’t. If we’re passionate about it we will hopefully return to recycling for ourselves post-graduation. If we never really thought about it before attending the university, we may get used to having it done for us and assume that our waste will be taken care of for us anywhere that we live. Or if we were not raised recycling, we are wasting four years of perfect education potential to make environmentally-conscious citizens out of us. One can argue that the waste produced at Hofstra is small, and even insignificant on a world scale, but imagine 2,000 plus students pumped out of the university every year, and all of the decisions that they each will make in the rest of their lives, the people they will influence and the values taught to the children they will raise.

So after two petitions, and a visible showing of student support, the plant department began a pilot source recycling in The Netherlands again (before any of our time, there was visible recycling that was nixed in favor of the post-sorting contract with Jamaica Ash.). “Pilot program” means that if students clearly are actively sorting their waste and responsibly using the recycling stations, then a recycling program will be expanded elsewhere on campus in coming semesters. And if not? This is neither simple to initiate for Hofstra’s plant department, nor will it be simple to upkeep. If students show no interest, we will go back to having all of our waste sorted for us.

So what can you do? Show them that this is a concern important to the student body! When you eat, have classes or reside in The Netherlands, make sure you use–and properly use–the “glass,” “plastic and metals,” and “paper” recycling. Also, even from elsewhere on campus, you can drop off your recyclables in The Netherlands.

We should all be very appreciative to plant for giving this program a try. In a past Chronicle article, “Netherlands houses pilot recycling program,” my quotes sounded very negative toward the plant’s department. I apologize that I came off as such, and would like to thank Joe Barkwill, Terry Greis and Mike King for working so well with Students for a Greener Hofstra and thank the rest of the department for their help in this endeavor, as well!