We’ve all seen it: people throwing away plastic bottles in the trash can, when they should be putting them in the recycling bin. Why do they do this? Do they not realize how much of an impact they will have on the environment? Do they not realize how much of a difference they could make? Recycling a single run of the Sunday New York Times would save 75,000 trees. With over 50,000 undergraduate students, just think of how much of a difference Ohio State could make! It is for this reason that Ohio State needs to set the standard for other colleges around the country.
Recycling at Ohio State is easy and effective with the All-In-One recycling program. We conducted a survey at three residence halls on campus. From the results of our survey, we were able to conclude that students believe recycling is easy, well-displayed and important to the environment. So why do students throw stuff away in the wrong bin!?
We wanted to answer the following questions: 1) How can we raise student awareness 2) How can we create a more effective recycling program? 3) How can we persuade and inform students to recycle more? To make the recycling program more effective and to eliminate recycling confusion, we propose a few new ideas: New colored lids, shadow boxes above bins displaying the type of items that can be placed in the bin, and a recycling course could increase the amount of recycling and make Ohio State more sustainable. So next time you go to throw your unwanted recyclables away, please, make sure you throw it in the right bin!
Ohio State's combined trash and All-in-One recycling containers.