This morning, as the sun rose outside my tiny slice of a window in Dupre, I printed my Human Geography essay on both sides of the paper. Afterwards, I grabbed the bottles lining my desk, marched to the kitchen with a sense of duty and purpose, rinsed out my soda can and threw it in the recycle bin labeled "cans." Later, after checking my SPO and seeing the letter my mother sent me snuggled against an International Male catalog, I threw the letter in the paper recycling bin and headed off with International Male tucked under my arm.

So maybe the above scenario seems a tad embellished (I admit I would have at least looked at the letter from my mom before just recycling it), but hopefully my point came across loud and clear. Recycling is an everyday, easy undertaking. By moving my hand a mere five inches (I measured) from the trash can to the recycle bin, I can directly, positively effect the environment. What is five inches of hand movement to pounds of waste being kept out of landfills, masses of energy saved that would have gone into producing new goods from raw materials and a major deduction in the amount of pollution accumulated?

By recycling here on campus we are doing oodles of good. Recycling at Macalester College began on Earth Day in 1970 and was completely dependent on student volunteers. Macalester's Recycling Operations now consists of 27 students who collect and sort the recycling around campus. I was able to visit the paper recycling room in Kagin and was astonished to see fellow students organizing our bags of recyclables: glossy, newspaper, white, mixed, and thin cardboard get separated here in this tiny room. Across the way in the tunnel between Doty and Wallace is the room where cans, plastics, and glass are washed and the cans are baled.

That's right: they actually wash out our sticky soda cans, which leads me to my next point: recycling is good, but good recycling is even better. If I can't find a sink to rinse out my can, I am able to at least drain the remaining liquid out of the container before I toss it in the recycle bin. It is also a good thing when all the recyclables are put in the proper containers: glass in the bin labeled "glass," cans in the bin labeled "cans," and so on. Then there is the frustration of opening a bag of paper recyclables and finding coffee grounds, gum, or other food stuff. Suddenly this bag of potential recyclables is transformed into a bag of trash. So I will go back to the hand movement of before: five inches the other way and I am able to properly dispose of my trash in the "trash" container. It would be a shame if I let my own carelessness ruin other people's efforts to do good by recycling. Cutting back on these types of "cross contamination" is a big help to the MacRO workers.

So now that I have covered the reasons to be a good recycler here at Macalester, I thought it would be beneficial for me to at least mention what is and is not recycled by MacRO. The paper you can recycle includes copier and computer paper, phone books, newspapers, clean paper bags, stationary and thin cardboard (think cereal box or notebook types.) You can recycle any glass bottles and jars of any color, with the exception of Pyrex. Plastic jugs and bottles can be placed in the bins marked for glass, and for both plastic and glass, it is good to rinse out the bottles and remove the caps. Any corrugated cardboard may be recycled as well as aluminum, tin, and steel cans.

The recycle "no-nos" include anything containing food, which consists of pizza boxes, plastic food wrappers, and any bags contaminated by food. Also, please do not put broken window glass, hazardous waste or toxins or the dreaded Styrofoam into the recyclable bins.

Recycling is an intrinsically simple way to make a big difference here on campus. Beyond the things I have listed as recyclables, doing things such as printing double-sided or on paper that has been used before on one side, taking fewer napkins at dinner, drying your hands on your pants instead of using paper towels and using a water bottle instead of always buying bottled water, are small but significant ways to cut back on your consumption.

Come one, come all: join my legion of recycling enthusiasts. Now, back to International Male…