On their way to lunch, two seniors stopped by a recycling information table to see if they could get free T-shirts. They left instead having made a commitment to assess their recycling habits and minimize their waste.
"I recycle when I can," senior Sarah Bailey said. "And I think I'm going to try and do it more. At home, recycling is hard because you have to drive it to the center. It's easy here because there are bins everywhere."
A recycling bin is part of what attracted students to the information table, which was set up from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Atrium in recognition of America Recycles Day.
"It's been awesome because we have this bin out here, so students come over to recycle their containers after they eat and we can talk to them and get feedback," Megan Gish, senior advertising major, said. "We've got some awesome recycling swag stickers, some temporary tattoos ... we're just trying to spread the word and get students recycling more."
Ball State's yearly recycling rate is 22 percent, Stacy Wheeler, Ball State sustainability specialist, said. That calculation is figured by dividing the amount of campus recycled material by the amount of total disposed waste.
"The national average is 34 percent, so obviously Ball State has some improvement to make," Wheeler said. "Right now, I think the best thing we can do is spread the word and educate people about what sort of things they should be recycling."
That's why the Ball State Energy Action Team, Ball State Dining, Eco-Reps and the Student Government Association hosted the information table in the Atrium to distribute recycled bookmarks, pencils and stickers, as well as to ask students to sign the American Recycles Day 2011 Pledge.
Sponsored by Keep America Beautiful and a number of other non-profits and corporations, the national pledge encourages people to reassess their habits and commit to regularly recycling one item they don't recycle now. The pledge is available online and has been signed by Ball State students since Wheeler sent a mass email about it two weeks ago.
"It's been really cool to see the school spirit — all the people willing to step up and do more year round about waste reduction," Wheeler said.
She said waste reduction is important because it reduces the space taken up by trash in landfills and because it conserves resources by minimizing the amounts of materials that are used, purchased and produced in the first place.
A number of campus policies already promote waste reduction such as listing printing limitations, teachers' efforts to have students submit assignments via email or Blackboard and dining's reusable mug program, Wheeler said.
As far as recycling goes, she said the key is to put the appropriate things in blue bags.
"If you throw something in a trash can, it's destined to go straight into a landfill," Wheeler said. "If you put something in a blue bag, it has the option to get recycled and made into a new item, which is what recycling is all about. It's a full circle, and it's pretty cool."
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