If I asked you to make a list of everything you’ve thrown away today, recycling included, could you do it? Do you take note of how much waste your lifestyle produces on a daily basis, or do you try not to get bogged down by the details? 
Whether you’re someone who will tear a half-used napkin and save the clean half for later or one who goes through handfuls of water and soda bottles a day without a second thought, we all produce waste. In our society, it’s nearly inevitable. 
But waste doesn’t just disappear like we act it does. The problem is that we know this, but we still don’t come to terms with it. We’ve been persuaded that it’s okay to buy whatever, whenever, use it and just toss it. But don’t be fooled; it wasn’t always this way, and it certainly can’t always stay that way.  
In 1947, for example, 100 percent of soft drinks and 86 percent of beer was sold in refillable containers. But after WWII and the dawn of the “Age of Convenience,” that number declined sharply to just 67 percent of soft drinks and 26 percent of beer being sold in refillable containers by 1970, and finally just 0.4 percent of soft drinks and 3.3 percent of beer from 1998 and on. If this data surprises you, I’d recommend doing a little research into the sponsors of the Keep America Beautiful campaign, which could also accurately be called the Invention of Litter project. 
And so, disposal has become the law of the land, only refuted by the brave few who question the status quo and have the mental capacity to imagine a more effective way.
Enter the recyclers. 
The University of Oregon’s own Campus Recycling Program began in 1990 when then-Survival Center Recycling Coordinator, Karyn Kaplan, recruited a small group of environmental studies students to try to address the need for a more functional recycling program. At the time, there was just one student, with one van, who did all the collections for the entire campus. 
That year’s project was wildly successful, and a recycling survey sent out to staff, faculty and administration by the Survival Center student group showed overwhelmingly that people were excited about the program and wanted to see it expanded. So it was.
Facilities Services took over recycling duties (and probably saved the sanity of the one student who was doing it previously) and the Campus Recycling Program started in 1990. 
Kaplan, the program’s environmental resource and recycling manager, has been there since the start. But as proud as this recycling champion is to show all the data of the thousands upon thousands of tons of waste diverted from the landfill thanks to the program, she’s just as quick to emphasize the program is about more than just recycling. 
“We’re not just a bunch of garbage picker-uppers, and this isn’t just a greenwashing thing,” she said in an interview. “Our big thing is really about waste reduction and sustainable resource management.” 
Campus Recycling Operations Supervisor Jim Fleck agreed. Showing me the recycling symbol, (the triangle made of 3 green arrows) he reminded me, “it’s getting people to reduce, reuse, then recycle. That order is important.” 
I conversely reminded him that if people weren’t consuming (and therefore recycling) he’d be out of a job. He agreed and laughed, knowing that, unfortunately, that is still a ways off.
“But seriously, if we’re doing our jobs right, then the rate of diversion (percent total waste being recycled) should be going up, while our total collected tonnage should be going down.”
That means us consuming less, but recycling more of that which we do consume. 
Kaplan said she thought recycling was still seen by many as an “extra thing,” rather than a fundamental part of waste management. But it still all comes back to being conscious of what we consume.
“What I really want for this University is that conservation becomes the rule, not the exception,” she said. 
But what is responsible consumption, then? This is where it gets tricky, because it’s everyone for his or her self. Essentially though, being responsible means holding yourself accountable for something within your control. Therefore, becoming aware of what you consume (and discard) and how it contributes to the overall effect is an import factor. From there, it’s all about choices.
The recycling program is working hard this year to make us see we have other choices than the throwaway consumerism that has been dumped on us like trash in a landfill. Its anti-water bottle campaign, for example, has made great strides by getting 10 water spigots for refilling bottles installed on campus drinking fountains, persuading facilities services to stop ordering bottled water and educating students with various outreach events.
The education is key. But it has to start with you and a willingness to learn and to want to do better for the planet we share. The recycling program can only do so much. (Though they do a lot; just look at its Web site!)
So, let’s see that list of today’s throwaways; post it in the comments section, send a letter to the editor, talk to your friends. Mostly though, show yourself and everyone that you can own up to your consumption and that you’re trying to find ways to make that list shorter and shorter.
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