Story by Logan Tromp, Opinion Columnist
Reduce, reuse, recycle! We’ve all heard this alliterative phrase encouraging us to steer away from wasting our garbage, but Aquinas College has taken this to the next step, and you can too. We’re currently in the midst of the Race to Zero Waste, and as Jessica Bowen, Executive Director for the Center of Sustainability said in her email on March 5th, we are placed 1st in Michigan and 6th nationwide. This is no easy feat, and the college has been working hard on the road to zero waste. The accessibility of composting and recycling is abundant. There’s virtually no need to throw anything away at Wege, and all the buildings around campus have spots for composting and recycling. All of the cups and containers that The Moose and The Corner provide are compostable, which is great.
Therefore, there is no excuse not to responsibly take care of your waste. It might take more time out of your day or require you to walk a little further down the road to the composting bin, but this small action helps the environment in tremendous ways: waste that usually ends up in landfills is spared; money is saved by no longer transporting and processing the waste; the soil is enriched with organic nutrients which removes the need for artificial fertilizers.
In regards to recycling, everyone has the opportunity to recycle on campus. Additionally, the benefits of recycling are very similar to composting albeit the materials are less organic. However, the beauty of recycling is that old products can be made new again, once again removing the need for filling the landfills. Anyone who has driven past Coopersville certainly wishes there was less waste to go around. There are also a variety of businesses that focus on recycling, and their products are made solely from recycled materials.
Arguably the most important, reducing the things you consume in all aspects of life, is extremely beneficial in removing the waste that accompanies it. In the spirit of Lent, we can focus on preserving the natural resources that we have in all forms, whether it be by reducing, reusing, or recycling. Regardless of how you feel about sustainability, Aquinas College works rigorously for the flourishing of our common home and you can help make a difference.
Featured Image courtesy of pluspng.com
The Saint 