Have you ever wondered who is in charge of the recycling bins on campus? Your fellow students from the Green Society are!
Maintaining the recycling bins is one of the Green Society’s biggest contributions on campus and it is a bigger job than you would think. Unfortunately, it can also be an unpleasant one for the students who volunteer to empty the recycling bins.
Putting your recyclables and garbage in their designated bins seems like a no-brainer, right? Brad and Brian Walsh, co-presidents of the Green Society, suggest that students haven’t mastered this difference very well.
Recycling bins are often half-filled with coffee cups and other garbage, which has to be sorted through and put in a real garbage can.Next time you are throwing something out, take a moment and check that it is going in the right place.
Any eco-conscious student has probably noticed that the number of recycling bins on campus is limited. Maintaining recycling bins on campus requires the devotion of a team of volunteers who are in charge of checking the bins and emptying the recyclables when they are full. Unfortunately, only a handful of students stepped forward to be responsible for a bin this year, thus the limited number of bins.
In order to cover more areas of campus, the Green Society needs more students to step forward and offer to maintain a bin. Brad Walsh emphasizes that the lack of recycling bins on campus isn’t due to a lack of initiative, just a lack of maintenance, “If we had enough people, we could have bins with every garbage can on campus… if you guys help us maintain them, we can put more out.”
Need another reason to get involved? All funds raised from campus recycling bins are donated to WUSC, another society on campus raising funds to sponsor an international student to study in Canada.
Brad Walsh suggests that a group of students could take responsibility for a bin and take turns emptying it. This takes the pressure off of the few students currently involved and helps make our campus greener.
If you are interested, there are plenty of extra recycling bins gathering dust in a storage room, just waiting to be adopted!
Please contact the Green Society by emailing unbgreensociety@gmail.com. To learn more about the Green Society and upcoming events, check out their Facebook page (UNB Green Society), twitter (@UNBGreen) or tumblr (unbgreensociety.tumblr.com).
