Principles of Environmental Science 6th Edition by William Cunningham, Mary Cunningham

Exercise 21

How Much Waste Do You Produce, and How Much Do You Know How to Manage?
As people become aware of waste disposal problems in their communities, more people are recycling more materials. Some things are easy to recycle, such as newsprint, office paper, or aluminum drink cans. Other things are harder to classify. Most of us give up pretty quickly and throw things in the trash if we have to think too hard about how to recycle them.

Now find someone on your campus who works on waste management. This might be someone in your university/college administration, or it might be someone who actually empties trash containers. (You might get more interesting and straightforward answers from the latter.) Ask the following questions: (1) Can this person fill in the items your class didn't know about? (2) Is there a college/university policy about recycling? What are some of the points on that policy? (3) How much does the college spend each year on waste disposal? How many tuition payments does that total? (4) What are the biggest parts of the waste stream? (5) Does the school have a plan for reducing that largest component?