The first step in understanding how the Residence Halls Association could dump its dorm recycling program is knowing how recycling at MSU works.
The contents of those big plastic newspaper recycling bins outside of classrooms and the recyclables coming out of MSU's cafeterias are processed by the Office of Recycling and Waste Management. Any limited recycling around the student areas in the residence halls was formerly done by the RHA.
Out of the Big Ten, MSU is the only university to use a student-run recycling program. We can't help but agree with RHA's Director of Recycling Clark Llamzon when he said, "(RHA doesn't) have the resources, the time or continuity of services."
Anyone living in the residence halls knows the placement of recycling stations under RHA's program was sporadic and scarce. It's not like RHA wasn't trying - it was. Under the circumstances - RHA has a new student leader every year and a limited budget - it did a commendable job. Maybe this should be left to the professionals.
The key to recycling at MSU will have to be accessibility. Students in residence halls shouldn't be able to walk more than 30 yards in any direction without running into a recycling bin. If recycling isn't both easy and highly visible, students not already prone to environmentalism or recycling won't go out of their way down flights of stairs to find the building's one recycling can. Chances are, they'd rather just throw it away.
A severely limited residence hall recycling program has only kept the people who do want to recycle from doing so. Recycling programs need actual backing to get off the ground.
Recycling at MSU has to revolve around trust. Any new residence hall recycling will have to show students that what they're doing has real impact. Under funded programs can't inspire the same end-user trust that all the hard work of sorting out the white paper from mixed paper or plastic won't just end up in with the trash.
One problem that has plagued all recycling at MSU has been the lack of any major recycling center on campus. While the Office of Recycling and Waste Management partnered with the city of Lansing in the late 1990s to use its recycling facilities, there's still a need for a sorting center on campus.
Perhaps one of the easiest ways to transition into MSU's 2020 Vision plan would be by working on the perceptions students have about the buildings they call home. If MSU wants to envision a green, clean and eco-friendly campus in the near future, one of the first steps is proactive investment in recycling programs here at home. MSU is nearly a self-sufficient community in and of itself, and commitment to recycling is essential to that.
Whatever happens, recycling at MSU has to get better. Who knows, if recycling can become a smooth, efficient and campus-centric machine, it could end up playing into overall plans to make the university a new and improved place.
