Letter: Student witnesses janitor working against university recycling efforts

2/1/08 - To the Cigar,During final exams last semester, I found myself studying on the top floor of the University Library in one of the many private enclosed desks. I don't remember which class I was studying for, however that is not the point of this letter.

The point is that while I was studying, I noticed a janitor going around and emptying trash cans into a larger trash can. Then, in a motion that seemed all too routine to him, he walked over and picked up a green recycling bin full of pieces of paper that people had put in there with the assumption that they would be recycled, and proceeded to pour it directly into the trash can. He then did the same to one of the blue recycling bins, which was full of cans and bottles.

I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from yelling at this man, "What the hell are you doing?" He obviously knew that the green and blue cans are meant for recyclable materials and they should be emptied into separate bins and brought to one of the numerous large green recycling bins around campus. He just didn't seem to care.

I don't understand this. I am a student in the College of Environment and Life Sciences because I care about making a difference and saving our environment.

But it doesn't take someone in this particular college to not hear something new almost every day about how we are destroying our environment with pollution and we are using up our natural resources at an unprecedented rate.

Let's face it, our world isn't going to save itself. It is up to us and recycling, while not the most efficient way of conserving resources, is a lot better than adding to the pollution. So there is no way that this man could not have known what he was doing.

Now, people have told me before that the janitors employed by the University of Rhode Island do this all the time and that irritated me, but this is the first time I had ever witnessed it, which made it seem so much more real.

I think that URI does a very good job of placing recycling bins in every academic building I have been in and scattering them around campus, and a lot of students do recycle their paper and cans and bottles. But this lazy and uncaring act on the part of the janitors of emptying recycling bins into trash cans that go directly into a trash dumpster is a slap in the face to the university, as well as to its numerous students and faculty who do care about making a difference and do actively recycle.

I can only imagine how much time and effort has been exerted on placing all of those recycling bins around this campus and getting the message of recycling to the students.

And let us only wonder how much money it may have cost the university, which is already tightly-pressed for money, to purchase those bins, as well as hire a company to come and empty the larger central recycling bins.

Later on that week, one of my friends told me that he witnessed the exact same thing going on while he was at the library, and that he too had to keep himself from saying something.

This makes me wonder how often this is going on, and made me think that it could quite possibly be taking place all of the time at this university and our efforts to recycle have only been in vain.

So I am addressing the janitors to please change your ways and if that is not done, the university should take action by hiring new janitors that are willing to aid in the university-wide recycling efforts. Everybody can do something to help our environment, and no matter how easy or small it is (like recycling), it is still better than doing nothing.



Ryan Elsmore