With the remembrance of the United States’ astronomical obesity and energy consumption statistics burning brightly in the back of our minds, one is likely to guess, fatalistically enough, that the United States is losing the recycling game as well. Such is not the case: in a list that peaks at 49% and bottoms out at 4%, recycling statistics comparing European and North American countries showed that in 2001 the United States recycled 32% of the 409 million tons of generated waste.

The University of Cincinnati’s recycling statistics are no less impressive; in 2004 the University recycled 4,902 tons of waste, and, according to UC’s Administrative and Business Services website, has 115 toters in 29 buildings across campus devoted to recycling mixed office paper.

Do you use any of them?

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I’ve used these bins no more than three times during the school year (and that’s a rather optimistic estimate). I even know where many of the ninety-gallon toters are located- one sits strategically outside the freshman studios in the DAAP building, probably less than fifteen feet away from my locker and studio classes- yet I can’t recall embarking on the arduous, fifteen-foot pilgrimage to the recycling bin (There goes my right to condemn American apathy, I suppose).

This realization, however humiliating, has led me to the belief that if UC’s recycling habits have room for improvement- and of course they do- the students and faculty should be the first to change. UC has provided students with an easy, accessible way to recycle. If the average student is anything like me, however, then UC students are not taking advantage of the opportunity.

Clearly recycling needs to be brought back to the attention of students and faculty. The 1990s boasted a nation-wide elevated awareness of the importance of recycling, but the past few years have shown waned enthusiasm. In 2002 Americans only recycled 21% of plastic bottles, as opposed to the 37% we recycled in 1995. Has this trend of indifference extended to the University of Cincinnati?

When I first began pondering this article, I thought of several improvements that needed to be made to UC Recycling: I find the absence of those ever-amusing can-crushing devices to be quite bothersome, and I’ve always been befuddled as to why America doesn’t have the quad garbage/recycling bins I’ve seen on every corner in Norway, Germany, and Spain. Reflecting on the minimal use I get out of the bins we do have on campus, however, makes me wonder whether or not we’d actually make use of additional options. Stuffing our recyclables into the wrong compartment of a quad container out of stupidity, carelessness, or juvenile and sick amusement seems a behavior much more likely to be displayed by American college students.

What could be done to recapture our concern? Perhaps flyers posted above trash cans, a brief reminder given by teachers at the beginning of each quarter, or campus-wide incentives (“STUDENTS GRANTED DISCOUNTED PARKING PASSES FOR RECYCLING”) would bring student’s attention back to our crucial need to recycle. As inconsequential as these actions may be, I suspect they would successfully encourage students to recycle (especially the parking thing; I bet we’d ceremoniously offer our grandmothers to the heathenistic gods of recycling- all while wearing loin cloths and war paint- if it meant free parking). The many benefits of recycling are well known, and it is an activity many agree with but simply forget to support. Hopefully we can focus our efforts and, as students, faculty and employees, aid UC’s efforts to recycle and produce less waste. Which, as estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency, “are equivalent to planting approximately 3,300,000 trees.