The University celebrated America Recycles Day with a collection of informative displays and free local food in the EMU Amphitheater on Tuesday.
“It’s a day to get the word out about reducing waste on campus,” ASUO Environmental Coordinator Rosie Sweetman said.
Sweetman, a senior majoring in environmental science, made a visual display by collecting paper coffee cups from campus trash cans. None of those cups would have been in the trash if people had been using reusable coffee mugs, which the Campus Recycling Program distributed at the event, she said.
“We put so many cups in the garbage it’s not even funny,” Sweetman said.
Sweetman said the campus coffee shops in Willamette Hall, the Knight Library, the EMU and the Lillis Business Complex distribute a total of 7,649 disposable coffee cups per week. Because only 10 to 15 percent of the cups Sweetman found came from campus shops, Sweetman estimated the number of cups thrown in the trash on campus every week to be much higher than the number distributed.
“There’s got to be like 30,000 or more a week in the waste stream,” Sweetman said.
– Eva Sylwester