Re-use it or lose it
Re-use it or lose it: BU students celebrate Earth Day by showing that recycling matters.
Environmentally-minded Boston University students want you to think twice before throwing paper, glass, ink cartridges, and other recyclable items in the trash. On Friday, April 21 BU will hold an Earth Day celebration from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Marsh Plaza to show students how the little things they do everyday can make a difference.
“Even though you might think that you’re not causing pollution, CO2 emissions, and contaminated drinking water, your actions can cause them indirectly,” says Molly Woodring, a student recycling coordinator for the Office of Environmental Health and Safety. “Even if you’re not driving a Hummer or causing pollution that way, not recycling means that the item needs to be replaced from scratch, which takes more resources, more energy, and results in more pollution and emissions.”
In addition, neglecting the environment can negatively affect our health and wellness, she says. “Global warming is a problem that threatens to completely change the world as we know it,” says Woodring. “As climates become warmer hurricanes and tsunamis become more of a problem, in some areas disease can spread more easily, and fresh water could become scarce in other areas as they change from tropics to deserts.”
This Earth Day, Woodring hopes students learn how their behavior affects the environment, what and where they can recycle, how to recycle off-campus, and how to cut down on waste by buying and selling used products through the BU online yard sale.
“We hope that our events can draw in and educate people who might not normally be interested in the environment,” Woodring says.
Three events will mark Earth Day at BU: A clothing and recycling drive and raffle, a trash audit, and a compost demonstration.
Students can earn a chance to win raffle prizes by donating clothes and shoes to Planet Aid, which will be collecting them at Marsh Plaza, and by bringing recyclables including paper, glass, plastic, and electronics.
For the trash audit, trash will be collected from several locations on campus and recyclable items will be sorted out. The portion of the trash that can be recycled will be measured to show how much more BU students, faculty, and staff could be recycling.
For the compost demonstration, volunteers will stand by all trash bins in the GSU from 11 a.m. to noon to help students separate food that can be composted. Representatives from the City of Boston will show students how food scraps can eventually be used as fertilizer and soil.
Click here for more information about BU’s Earth Day events.