David Cloud
Cabrini College is in violation of local recycling laws by not recycling a certain amount of trash. Cabrini is the latest in the string of places that are having their recycled trash decline in numbers.
This past year, New York City stopped recycling glass and plastic altogether. The reason is because it costs less to throw the trash away than it does to recycle it. Plus, New York City officials have said they have no use for the glass bottles and plastic milk jugs that are taking up space in the city’s recycling landfills.
While Cabrini has not stopped recycling altogether, they are apparently not doing enough of it. Radnor township requires its citizens to recycle clear, brown and green glass, non-aerosol aluminum, steel, bimetallic cans, plastic beverage containers, newspapers, bond papers, junk mail, telephone books, paperback books, periodicals, magazines, computer paper and cardboard boxes. Most of these items are available on campus and should overflow recycle bins. However, it may be difficult to fill the bins when there are hardly any on campus.
“We do not have a recycling area,” junior social work major, Liz Malgieri, resident of house four, said. “We put all our trash in the kitchen and we put recyclables and regular trash together.”
Howard Holden, director of facilities, said the lack of recycle bins is due to the fact that Cabrini has recently changed to a different waster hauler. However, Holden said the college should expect a jump-start in the near future concerning recycling.
“The company we are working with, Mascaro, has a better reputation than the old company we had a contract with,” Holden said. “The company is brand new to the campus so it is still getting used to the routine. Once they get adjusted, we will start brainstorming to how we can begin a better program.”
Cabrini does have a few recycle bins scattered throughout the campus. New Residence Hall has a recycle shoot on each floor, but it has recently run into problems because students have put their regular trash down the shoot and it gets backed up. Also, many students would use the NRH shoot if they knew where it was.
“I would recycle if I knew where it was located,” first-year student, Jen Fisher, Woodcrest resident, said.
For those students that do know where the recycle bins are in their residence halls, they feel that the bins could be better placed.
“Recycling is important to me, but the bins could be in a more convenient location,” first-year student, Kristin Poroski, Woodcrest resident, said. “I think they should have one on every floor, along with a garbage can.”
Holden said that once they get into the swing of things, they may put recycle bins in the lounges of each residence hall.
Even though Cabrini may not be putting up big numbers in recycled trash, Holden said in the 20 years he has been here, Cabrini always does a good job with recycling cardboard. The grounds crew also recycles the yard waste from fixing the grounds. This makes Cabrini in compliance with two out of the four items the state mandates townships recycle.
“We have to get back on track with aluminum and office paper,” Holden said. “We have to take this one step at a time.”
Overall, Holden remained extremely optimistic about the future of Cabrini’s recycling program. Every residence hall will have bins, including the houses.
“It all comes down to the students in the end. We can only push so far,” Holden said. “If the users do not use them, they do not work. If we have student cooperation, then our recycling program will be excellent.”
