Recycling Around Campus
As part of my WilSkillzer duties, I recycled around Vanderbilt’s campus today for Vandy’s Plant Operations. It was raining, and at first I was by myself, but it actually turned into a very efficient happy recycling 2.5 hours.
What I mean by recycling isn’t that I sort my own plastics from aluminum. It means that I go over to the Plant Operations building behind the Commons Center and check out the super awesome recycling pick-up truck. I proceed to pick up my fellow recycling partners and we head off to several locations around campus (Highland Quad, Branscomb Quad, Towers East, Towers West, and Kissam).
There, we go through the recycling bins and take out bags that are half or more full. Around Vanderbilt’s campus we recycle plastic, paper, cardboard, aluminum, and glass. As the recycling crew we take out the full bags and then put in new bags for people to fill with their wonderful recyclable goods. We tally how much we collect at each place for log books.
The two students who were supposed to work with me today couldn’t, so I tried to get some help last minute. Luckily, one friend who had a ton of work, but lived at Kissam took out the bags there for me so all I had to do was pick them up and replace the bags. Another friend did Highland Quad, and another yet Branscomb! Also, another friend ended up coming along with me to help out. It ended up being a great, super quick, fun recycling trip…the drizzling rain didn’t hurt too bad either.
All in all, despite the time commitment and manual labor of the job, I really do enjoy doing it. Not only is it required for me as member of WilSkills, but I really do feel like it is something that every Vanderbilt student, that every person should be doing. Getting involved in things like recycling pick-up reveals to you the wastefulness of society. While I love the fact that Vanderbilt Students recycle…sometimes I just wish they drank less bottled water and instead refilled at the many purified water and hydration stations around campus. I mean, the tap water isn’t that bad either!
Here’s a picture from when two of my friends and I recycled last year during a rainstorm. We got drenched, but it was super fun! =)
