THE FALCON'S EYE - Pfeiffer - Pfeiffer University

By Camilla Alfredsson
When Sophomore
Sara Garner lived with her
parents in Asheboro, North
Carolina, she never tossed a
plastic can in a recycling bin.
“My parents never
recycled, so neither did I,”
Garner explains.
When she came to
Pfeiffer University, she
decided that she wanted to
change her recycling habits.
“I wanted to start
recycling because I’m aware
of the consequences of not
doing it,” she says. “If each
person in the world recycles
one aluminum can each
month then over 3000 gallons
of gas would be saved.”
But according to
Garner, the biggest problem
is that the few bins they have
here on Pfeiffer’s
Misenheimer campus are
situated in the most random
places where you can’t see
them.
Along with Garner,
other students have
complained about the
placement of our recycling
boxes. According to a survey
Garner herself conducted,
between 80%-90% of students
say they used to recycle at
home, but not here on
campus because they don’t
know where the bins are.
For junior Dawn
Watkins, recycling is a no
brainer. She was the
president of an
environmental club at her
high school and since she has
come to Pfeiffer she has been
promoting for the university
to “go green”. Every year she
makes a recycling box for her
hallway to remind her hall
mates that recycling is an
option.
“It’s all about
convenience. If it takes fewer
steps for someone to get to
the garbage can than it does
to get to the recycling bin,
then they’re most likely
going to toss everything in
the garbage can.”
Most of the buildings
on campus have one large
blue recycle bin. The
residence halls always have a
bin on the first floor, but
according to Watkins there
are not many students who
are aware of this. She agrees
with Garner that the bins
are not always in plain sight.
“If they were as
visible as the trash cans,
people would be less likely to
throw away recyclable
items,” Watkins says.
Pfeiffer has made
attempts to increase
recycling since the 1990s.
NEWS
GO GREEN,PFEIFFER!
The school has already placed
bins on campus for plastic,
aluminum, paper and
cardboard.
“We are trying to do
as much as we can with the
resources that are available,”
says Sharon Bard, Director of
Facilities.
“Overall, availability
and convenience are keys
when it comes to recycling,”
claims Watkins.
Now both she and
Garner recycle wherever they
go and encourage other
students to follow their
advice.
“If everybody would
stop throwing away plastics
it could make a huge
difference,” Garner adds.
Pfeiffer University October 2010 Page 8