Even Spartan Stadium has become a target for recycling in the past year. Despite all these efforts to educate the public about the importance of recycling, I still am compelled to put my two cents in.

When I moved in during the fall, I took notice of a growing trend in my hall. Inside the men’s bathroom were three recycle bins. You had your plastics and metals, mixed paper and boxboard and then there was cardboard. At least, that’s what was supposed to be inside that bin.

Since the beginning of the semester, other people in the hall took note of the unusually large size of the cardboard recycle bin. I’m pretty sure the bin was intentionally bigger, since TV screens have been getting bigger and the smaller sized bin wasn’t cutting it.

But other students on the floor had different ideas in mind. Before long, the cardboard bin became a dumpster for half of the hall. On a daily basis I’d walk in and the bin would be brimming with trash bags. It was pretty obvious that they weren’t filled with cardboard, because there would be days where a haze would accrue. The stench would become so disgusting that the first floor bathroom would be the last place where I’d want to clean myself.

I can understand that some people do find recycling to be a rather daunting task; you have to know which materials go in which bin. Even though the signs give numerous examples as to which goes where, it may still be confusing whether or not the cereal box goes in the mixed paper and boxboard bin or cardboard.

Besides a few corner cases, the recycling bins couldn’t be labeled any more concisely for kids to follow, let alone fully grown adults.

At this age, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say it’s OK to resort throwing everything into the recycling bin. Someone still has to properly sort through that garbage, and it became obvious that he was sick of wondering where all the college students went.

Toward the end of the semester, the cardboard bin was completely absent. It’s as if someone was finally tired of quietly struggling to sort the recyclables from the trash thrown into the cardboard bin that they aborted the entire notion.

In its absence, there would still be trash bags piling up where the bin used to be, as though the message wasn’t clear enough. Still, I’m glad that the cardboard bin eventually reappeared this semester.

Overall, MSU’s recycling program is insanely convenient in comparison to other campus recycling programs I’ve seen. I remember my high school running a recycling program and there were only two bins in each classroom: paper and plastic.

The fact that MSU offers a wider variety of recycling and is situated right next to a recycling plant is crazy.

But even in the lap of luxury, students still seem to equate recycling bins to trash cans.
Hopefully this semester, everyone will make a little more effort to keep it green at MSU.

Henry Pan is a chemical engineering sophomore. Reach him at panhenry@msu.edu.