OUR VIEW: Tell us what we shouldn’t recycle

It’s always disheartening to stand over the rim of a garbage can and see five plastic soda bottles peaking out through scraps of loose paper — especially when 10 inches from the can iis a blue bin labeled “Recycled Paper,” and another 10 inches from that, a black bin for plastic goods.

Laziness has us in its grasp, especially at this point in the semester. We try our best to recycle what we can. With the substantial amount of paper we use in our office, it’s important we make sure to stuff whatever we don’t need anymore into one of our paper bins. Therefore, we trust something positive is happening with what we recycle, because USU has a solid recycling program.

However, we learned some things recently that had us questioning whether half our recycling was ending up suffocated in a landfill. Every city has different rules about recycling, depending on what programs are offered nearby. Many of us have been wadding up our plastic bags, hardly feeling guilty about using them because they can be recycled. But in reality, this isn’t true. So what else do we take the time to sort that never makes it into the recycling truck?

According to USU Recycling Center’s online Q-and-A page, an entire bin of recycling can get tossed in with the trash if any type of food scraps are found, because it contaminates the materials making them difficult to use again. So, even if the majority of the student body recycles consistently, a handful of recycling slobs will make these efforts for nought.

Perhaps, instead of hiding these realities in a lengthy online document, some form of attention-grabbing announcement should be posted near recycling stations. We can’t read the Recycling Center’s mind — especially because we come from different cities with different recycling policies. 

We’re not sure how many students will care enough to seek out information on campus recycling through USU’s website, but our guess it not many will. We are thrilled students have the option to recycle so accessibly, and there is even a display on the second floor of the TSC showing what can and cannot be recycled. Undoubtedly, though, information is still missing.