Hopkins participates in recycling competition

Hopkins’s recycling amount is judged in all campuses and buildings including not only Homewood, but also the medical school campus.

“In the last few years Hopkins has placed in the top four a number of times,” freshman Eco-Reps Zoe Kaiser wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

Fluctuation in placement may be because of the way that schools report statistics and when their breaks are. “We only know that Hopkins and other schools give out recycling statistics at different intervals; some schools do it weekly and some schools do it monthly,” Kaiser said.

“It was difficult to judge in the Ivy Plus group right now because we weren’t necessarily judged on the same categories because it was over different time frames; some of it was technically over intersession, so that’s why the numbers changed.”

As the competition progresses, the Eco-Reps are trying to determine how many students recycle and where recycling bins exist.

“All of the Eco-Reps went to every building on campus and surveyed them for recycling bins and asked anyone we saw how recycling was in that building,” Kaiser said.

“We’re planning to compile that into a more comprehensive document and present it at a later date,” Kaiser said. “Right now, we’re trying to get a feel for how easy it is to recycle on campus.”

In previous years, the various dorms have participated in recycling competitions.

There most likely will not be a competition between dorms this semester because it is difficult to get specific data and statistics from each building.

“Since we’ve had some difficulty starting the dashboards, viewing screens, and we’ve had difficulty gathering and maintaining the statistics on how much recycling each building does, we’re not positive we’ll be able to do it this year, Kaiser said. “If not this year, then next semester.”

Additionally, in order to promote Recyclemania, the Eco-Reps have created a Random Acts of Recycling program. If the Eco-Reps see you recycling in a public place such as the library, you will be rewarded with a prize such as a Kleen Kanteen water bottle or a free coffee.

Furthermore, Eco-Reps have put flash ads in the Recreation Center and Café Q to raise awareness throughout campus. To appeal to a larger group of students, there is also a Recyclemania Facebook event.

“The Eco-reps plan to use the Facebook event to send out periodic updates about the tournament and specifically how [Hopkins] is doing,” freshman Eco-Rep Margaret Keener said.

“Lastly, the Eco-Reps are also trying to help the fraternities on campus recycle {because they currently don’t), and, as I’m sure you can imagine, we make a lot of garbage with all of the cups and cans we throw away from there when they all can be recycled,” wrote freshman Eco-Rep Joe Puma in an email to The News-Letter.

There are still seven weeks left in the competition. “With seven more weeks in the Recyclemania competition, we can easily beat our rivals,” Calabrese wrote.

“Students should know what can and cannot be recycled. Their small and simple actions can help us do well in the competition and hopefully sustain better recycling practices on campus in the long run.”

However, Puma felt that some schools may be hard to compete against. “Part of the problem is that other schools spent a significant amount on making themselves more environmentally friendly and thus are harder to compete against,” Puma wrote. “Another problem is many students are unaware that the competition is happening in the first place, which makes them less likely to be conscious about their choices as much as if they did know.”

Many students do seem to be unaware of the competition going on.

Freshmen Emily Markert and James Sabra both explained that they knew that Recyclemania was going on from the Facebook event, but they did not know what it was.

Kaiser felt that Hopkins students need to become more aware about not only recycling, but also environmental issues in general.

“Overall, I would say that Hopkins students are less aware than other students,” she said. “For example, not many students know every single item that can be recycled and how to recycle that item including numerically on plastics and glassware. Personally, I don’t feel that students are up-to-date on environmental issues in the news or current environmental bills on the table,” she said.

She also felt that Hopkins needs to become a greener school.

“It would be helpful if Hopkins could be more specific about what numbers of plastic students can recycle, and also [if they] implemented composting in more buildings than just coffee shops right now,” Kaiser said.

“In addition, I think it’s unhelpful that the FFC has compostable cups if there’s no place to compost them within easy access.”

Calabrese felt that student involvement in environmental issues is growing, but that they should be more aware of what exactly to recycle.

“In terms of recycling, it starts with understanding. Reduce, then reuse, then recycle. We too often think of recycling as an ultimate sustainable task. Recycling is good, but many materials such as paper and plastic can only be recycled a few times before they are no longer useful,” she wrote. “This means that even if we recycled all of our waste, natural resources would still need to be mined and harvested to feed the supply chain,” Calabrese wrote.

“Always remember, reduce-reuse-recycle is an order of processes,” she continued. “Reducing the amount of stuff you use should be the first priority, then reusing materials and finally recycling everything that cannot be reused.”

Keener explained that there are many students who are self-aware about how their actions are affecting the environment, and that there are many opportunities for students to get involved on campus.

“Eco-Reps is running Recyclemania and Powershift,” Keener said.

“Additionally, Students for Environmental Action is a general awareness club that holds awesome events, and Real Food at Hopkins focuses primarily on the food system and our own organic garden,“ she said.

“However, the issue is more about just getting more students and faculty more aware of current environmental issues that our generation is facing,” Keener said.

The Eco-Reps stress that small changes can make a huge difference.

“The best thing to do to improve our ranking is to first cut down on waste, that is, let there not be any reason to recycle in the first place,” Keener said.

She further explained that small steps, like using a thermos instead of grabbing a to-go cup and thus eliminating waste production in the first place will result in the biggest improvements. Secondly, students must recycle more.

“A lot of times recyclable materials (especially cans and bottles) end up in the trash just because, ‘oh, the trash can is right there’ or convenience and that sort of thing,” Keener said.

“The most impactful thing that individuals can do is be a role model. People learn from their peers,” Calabrese wrote.

“If you want other people to take care of the environment, then lead the way,” Calabrese further wrote.

“Demonstrate sustainable behavior everyday and the people around you will notice, learn, and change their behaviors, too,” Calabrese continued.

“Recycle a can and encourage your friends to. We do something and then we talk about it . . . this is how we shift culture.”