Tegan McRoberts
CAS 138T
Persuasion Essay
On-Campus Recycling at Penn State
The Pennsylvania State University is world-wide known campus. Around 45,000 students walk the streets of main campus attending classes and trying to earn that all-too-important degree as quickly as possible. The sheer size of Penn State makes it a fantastic place to implement change and make a huge impact. The university has kept this in mind with their pursuit of sustainability on-campus.
Sustainability is the simultaneous pursuit of health and happiness, environmental quality, and economic well-being for current and future generations. As the population of the planet exponentially increases, technology advances, and the standard of living increases, the use of natural resources will inevitably increase. Keeping this in mind, it is important to note that it is impossible to get rid of all waste, but over 90% of it can be diverted from landfills. Every year, Penn State produces approximately 15,000 tons of solid waste, which if not recycled, would go to a landfill. In addition to traditional recycling, Penn
State has begun to implement a composting program which will, if used properly and effectively, divert an additional 10% of waste from landfills. Not only would recycling keep Penn State clean, it helps protect the environment. As humans consume more and more, our natural resources are depleting and our planet is deteriorating. Penn State is a great place to initiate change because of its large student body, which would allow for a huge impact. The student body represents all 50 states as well as 132 different countries. If change is started here, it could spread, not only all over the country, but all over the world. Of the 45,000 students enrolled at Penn State in 2013, 13,000 are on-campus students. If the on-campus students were required to recycle their waste, there would be a huge reduction in waste on-campus.

To begin, the effort level among humans – especially citizens of the United States - in regards to recycling is laughable, and this has led to the environment’s currently precarious state. Today, the U.S. produces the most trash per person in the world at just over 1,600 pounds per person per year. Perhaps even more shocking is the fact that the population of the United States generates approximately 40 percent of the world’s waste, despite those 300 million people accounting for just five percent of the world’s population. Although the EPA has reported that America is experiencing sustained improvements in waste production, the overall quantity of the nation’s municipal solid waste, or trash, continues to rise. Between 1980 and 2005, this number had increased by 60 percent.
If those facts fail to raise concern, perhaps the notion that the world’s natural resources are depleting at an alarming rate deserves some attention. There are big words such as deforestation and greenhouse gases that are thrown around when people talk about the depletion of natural resources.
Many people do not know much about these things but humans have a very large impact on them, and they in turn have a very large impact on Earth. Many scientists believe that the buildup of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, can cause global climate change. Over time, this could pose serious dangers around the world, prompting such disasters as flooding, drought, and disease. Extracting and using resources can also disturb relationships within ecosystems. This can be seen during deforestation.
The effects of clearing an old-growth forest for wood can destroy habitats used by many animals. These animals are forced to find new homes, and if they leave a particular ecosystem, further disturbances can occur within plant and animal populations that depend on these species. Specifically in the United
States, resource consumption is a large-scale issue. For example, the United States as a whole uses one million gallons of oil every two minutes. Additionally, every American uses about 47,000 pounds of newly mined materials each year, a large portion of which is never recycled or reused.
While believing that all of these issues can be entirely solved simply by recycling is nothing if not naïve, the fact of the matter is that if an influx of citizens were to begin pulling their weight in the race

to save the planet, the resources of the world would see a drastic boost in terms of sustainability. The easiest way for this to happen is for people to start recycling. While humans should feel a natural inclination to recycle, there are plenty of concrete, discernable facts that, if made common knowledge, would likely increase the amount of recycling done worldwide. For example, sending trash to a landfill costs the community about 50 dollars per ton, which is nearly twice the approximately 30 dollars per ton it costs to recycle. Energy costs are also muted when it comes to recycling, as it reduces the need to run incinerators and keep landfills. As stated earlier, the United States’ total municipal solid waste has increased by 60 percent between 1980 and 2005. On a positive note, since 2005, there have been small decreases in total municipal solid waste, most notably between 2007 and 2009 where the total dropped from 255 million tons to 243 million tons. This number dropped due to the conservation of natural resources.
Ideally, every municipality will get involved, and the Penn State and surrounding State College area should be no exception. Currently, Penn State does a decent job in its efforts to both reduce material waste and to promote recycling among students. There are several on-campus organizations that are dedicated to sustainability including EcoReps, Engineers for a Sustainable World, and PSU Food
For Thought. These groups work all year to raise awareness and promote sustainability among the Penn
State community. However, there is still plenty of room for improvement on both the part of the university as well as the part of the student body. The university has put a lot of time and money into this initiative though they have not done so as effectively as possible. This is illustrated at the Berkey
Creamery. When you get an ice cream or a milkshake, you get a polystyrene container, a plastic spoon or straw (with a paper wrapper), and napkin. The portions are huge and most people do not finish their ice cream. To properly dispose of the waste in this situation, bare minimum there would need to be a polystyrene container, a miscellaneous plastic bin, and a compost bin. They do provide a polystyrene and plastic bin but no compost bin, just a trash can. Additionally, there are only trash cans by the doors

and outside so as people leave they tend to just throw everything away rather than sort their trash. It is clear that Penn State is trying to solve the problem but there are some flaws to their plan which make recycling less effective than it could be. For example, approximately 90 percent of the waste generated by students and faculty could be recycled or composed, but only 60 percent of it actually is. As long as those numbers are unequal, there will be room for improvement.
One way to improve upon this ratio is to better inform students and faculty about the ongoing recycling efforts at the university. Penn State has invested a lot into a program called EcoReps. EcoReps is a group of freshman who live in East Halls and promote sustainability and no-waste lifestyles in the residence halls. EcoReps encourage their fellow residents to recycle and turn off their lights, as well as answer any questions the residents may have about sustainability and recycling. While Penn State has created two EcoReps positions for every building in East Halls, twenty eight EcoReps in total, these students only live in East Halls and do not perform much outreach to the rest of the University. It should not go un-noted that the EcoReps have made a large impact in East Halls and if similar programs are implemented in the other residence areas, waste could be substantially reduced.
Additionally, the University must do better to ensure students are aware of the myriad of resources available to help them reduce their impact on the environment. Many students are not aware that Penn State has a sustainability institute. The institute’s goal is to teach, embody, and communicate a world view that allows the collective “we” to prosper, both now and in the future. A quick search online of the sustainability institute will allow you to see several of the great programs that the institute is implementing. They have programs for both students and faculty focused on campus. Some of these programs include EcoReps, Green Teams, Green Paws, and Mobius. The most important one for students to know about is Mobius. Mobius is an initiative started by the institute to “close the loop” on its solid waste. All over campus there are Mobius, or recycling, stations which have several bins that

allow students and faculty to sort their waste. These can be found in almost all the buildings on campus and in the residence halls.
In order to see better results, the university must make recycling more convenient for its students. Penn State is currently taking steps in East Halls to place a recycling center on every floor of each building. However, most dormitories in other areas of campus do not feature these recycling centers on every floor. By ensuring each and every floor has an easily accessibly recycling center, Penn
State could dramatically increase the amount of recyclable and compostable waste it keeps out of landfills. Another step Penn State could take would be to reduce the number of trash receptacles both on campus, and in the residence halls. In the residence halls, every room is provided a trash can and there are trash bins in the recycling rooms. Most of the time, students fill the trash can in their room then place all of it in the trash bin in the recycling center without sorting their trash. By removing the trash cans from the dormitories, students would have to individually bring items to the recycling center and it would increase the likelihood they would recycle. Another option is to remove the trash bins from the recycling centers and just move it to the first floor. If it was more work to throw something away rather than recycle it, recycling would definitely increase.
Implementing this change will not be easy. College students are typically known to be lazy.
They want to get things done as quickly as possible with as little as effort as possible. I don’t think any college student wants to sit in a trash room and dig through their garbage trying to find the right bin that things go in. The best way to combat this is to make it more convenient to recycle than it would be to throw something away. Like what was said before, the easiest way to do this is to have fewer trash cans. Penn State is a very clean campus so if trash cans are taken away it is important to replace them with recycling bins so students don’t feel inclined to just drop their trash on the ground. With more recycling bins than trash cans, it will be easier for them to drop it into a recycling bin. Even if they place

it in the wrong bin, it is still effective because all recycling bin waste is taken to the recycling center and sorted correctly, whereas trash is sent straight to the landfill.
One thing that the university has on its side is Penn State pride. Most of the students here have extreme school spirit and are into the numerous Penn State traditions. These traditions include throwing girls in the air at football games and visiting the lion shrine; why can’t they include recycling?
Penn State students love a good competition. If it is made a norm that Penn State recycles and Penn
State is the best at recycling then student will be more inclined to recycle. Every year, the university participates in an energy saving competition, Campus Conservation Nationals, against other Big 10 school, such as Ohio State or Michigan, and does very well when the students are aware. The competitive nature of the students will play a big role. It doesn’t even have to be that big of a competition, students are willing to compete among residence hall buildings and even just among their friends. For the recycling challenge in the fall the building standings were posted every few days and buildings that were losing made major improvements to try and get a higher place. If the students know about the competition, they will compete.
In conclusion, in an effort to increase sustainability and protect the environment, Penn State students should be required to properly dispose of recyclable materials. If materials aren’t recycled, natural resources are needed to make new ones. Extracting, processing, and using natural resources can cause environmental problems, such as the disruption or destruction of ecosystems; a decreasing in biodiversity; and land, water, and air pollution. Resource recovery and conservation, as well as buying recycled products, are emerging trends that reduce consumption of natural resources. Although these problems can’t be solved immediately, it is important to start to change now before it is too late. Penn
State is a great place to implement changes and have a large impact. The campus is a great place to begin implementing change, because it is a large portion of the student body and it is convenient. If a few changes are made, like having less trash cans and making recycling a Penn State tradition, requiring

all on-campus students to recycle would be easy and effective. When you walk around main campus, there is a lot of beautiful landscaping and you see a lot of green grass and trees, not to mention when you walk around the Arboretum. Recycling will help keep Penn State clean and one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation.

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