Under our sprawling oak trees lie crushed soda cans, pieces of paper, wrappers and empty potato chip bags. Although numerous trash and recycling bins are spread throughout campus, they’re often filled to the brim, leaving the wind to send trash flying everywhere.
Walking around campus, I’ve noticed water bottles and paper ending up in the trash. One of the biggest environmental challenges is that people don’t know what goes where.
According to Columbia University’s Climate School, many recyclable materials get contaminated when placed in trash bins. The long-term effect is that these materials get broken down in the environment and are deposited in landfills and oceans, causing marine life to be harmed or killed.
Mark Benfield, an LSU coastal environmental science professor, said a significant contributor to the issue is the lack of recycling education among students on campus.
“People use the recycling bins as trash cans,” said Benfield. “If you go into the food hall at PFT and look at the bins there, stuff comes out of Panera that could be recycled is just commingled with food waste that can’t be recycled. And so all of that gets thrown out.”
Some universities, such as American University, have a zero-waste policy. Their policy requires all trash and recycling bins on campus to have labels describing what can be placed into each bin. If all of LSU’s bins had labels, more people might properly recycle and throw away their trash.
The ”campus sustainability” tab on LSU’s website provides information on what can be recycled. But students must actively seek out this information. Putting directions right onto bins ensures everyone has the chance to recycle responsibly.
LSU’s main zero-waste initiative focuses on taking food scraps and turning them into fertilizer. Sure, that helps to decompose food scraps, but what happens to plastics and other trash? Clearly, much of it finds its way all over campus, nowhere near the designated bins.
Benfield said that he visited the National Geographic’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., a few years ago, and its cafeteria used zero plastic. Utensils were made of bamboo or wood, and plates were made of compressed cardboard, he said.
“I think LSU could do great things by requiring all of their vendors to stop using Styrofoam and plastics, and really set an example,” Benfield said.
Even though those materials may be more challenging to mass-produce, they’re biodegradable, making them better decomposable products for the environment and LSU.
Though changes from the administration are important, everyone needs to take accountability for their own waste.
After the most recent football game, I walked outside Tiger Stadium to find piles of trash on the ground. It made me feel like I was swimming in the garbage. Football fans shouldn’t expect the hardworking janitorial staff to clean up after them.
Plenty can be done to fix the litter problem on campus. LSU can educate the student body on how to properly dispose of waste and increase the number of trash and recycling bins around campus. Students can get involved in sustainability initiatives on campus — or simply take the step of putting their waste in the right place.
We have a beautiful campus. We should do the work to protect it.
Taylor Hamilton is an 18-year-old mass communication freshman from Tallahassee, Florida.
Overflowing trash can lies on Friday, Sep. 9, 2022, outside of the Journalism building at LSU, Baton Rouge, La.
