Student Seeks to Remedy H-SC Recycling Policy
by: Basil Panton ‘11Student committee formed to take action and distribute bins
Like the swing of a pendulum, support for various projects and missions ranges from excitement to apathy. Just six months ago, there was no discussion about recycling on campus—at least, no proactive discussion or a concrete plan. Fast forward six months, and there is already a recycling committee as part of the Student Government of Hampden-Sydney College. This committee—The Student Committee for Recycling and Preservation (SCRAP)—was originally named by Joseph Adriana, an alumnus who attempted, unsuccessfully, to rally support for the same cause.
However, this more recent attempt was resurrected six months ago. Miguel Mogollon, a concerned student of the H-SC community, proposed to the 2009-2010 incoming President of the Student Body, Pierce Robbins, the idea of implementing a recycling system on campus. Mr. Mogollon’s interest heightened after he took Environmental Studies classes, and started “thinking of ways to improve the H-SC campus.” Furthermore, Mr. Mogollon realized that there might have been ideas out there among fellow students, but “there needed to be communication among faculty, students, staff, and administration.” In other words, Mr. Mogollon wanted this project to involve and connect everyone in the campus’ community.
Robbins gladly embraced Miguel’s idea, and later included the committee in the Student Government. The aim of these efforts is not to form a committee, and have it be inactive. Rather, the aim is that members of the committee, along with all members of the community, not allow this project to come to a standstill. For instance, Mr. Thomas Gregory, Director of Building and Grounds (B&G), has already accepted and supports the project.
As soon as the committee rejoins and starts placing the bins around campus, the project will be under way. This will happen within the next two weeks, assured Mogollon, who was named Chairman of SCRAP. All areas of campus are of concern; nevertheless, the committee and its advisor, Dr. Kenneth Townsend, have agreed to start placing bins at freshmen dorms and at fraternity houses first.
There have been concerns, however, that this strategy might encourage freshmen to drink—since empty beer cans are easily recyclable—but Mogollon rejects this claim. “That’s biased,” he said; “There’s no statistical data to consolidate this argument.” Mogollon also emphasized that he will make himself available to see if there is any increase in the number of beer cans found in the bins placed at freshmen dorms. He hopes to see a lot more soda cans, and few, if any, beer cans.
Certainly, this project can go a long way and survive many years at H-SC—a goal the community wants to achieve. One way of improving that chance of survival is to get the word out and provide students with incentives. “[As a reward for the dorm which recycles the most,] we are planning to make wireless internet available to an entire building,” Mogollon stated. This is certainly an adequate incentive to increase students’ support of and participation in the project, but at what cost? This is the paramount question.
The answer is simple: the committee, with the help of student participation, will generate money through selling cans to a nearby recycling company. If students believe in and encourage this project, there could be quite an influx of money. This money will be the source of the incentives that the committee will be providing.
After all, the students will determine the longevity of this program. In addition, this source of earnings could be used to support, as Mogollon described, “future programs” such as “purchasing motion switches for electricity [conservation] on campus” and “bringing in speakers that will talk about the environment and recycling.”
Along with Mogollon, the committee is comprised of Matthew Dabney ’11, Matthew Carter ’11, Basil Panton ’11, Ben Brown ’10, and Nay Min Oo ’12.
The committee hopes to see significant student involvement in this project and can be contacted through Mogollon via his cell, (203) 987-6720 or by email at mogollonm@hsc.edu.
Related posts:
Loading ...