Recycling pickup poses problems

By Matthew Hunt

How many pop bottles does it take to circle the Earth one time? It appears that the overflow of pop bottles at Missouri Western could achieve it. Students in Free Enterprise, an organization on campus that focuses to make our campus green, has worked hard to turn Missouri Western into a recycling school.

According to former President of SIFE Vickie Pike, Western is very lucky to have this organization on campus.

“We were the last campus in Missouri, I believe, that had a recycling program,” Pike said.

This past spring semester SIFE approached PepsiCo Inc. to make an arrangement for a recycling pickup. According to SIFE Advisor Mike West, when the organization approached Pepsi the objective was clear.

“One of Pepsi’s objectives is to reduce their environmental impact,” West said.

West discussed how Pepsi has redesigned their water bottles to reduce the amount of plastic they use.

“Pepsi has developed a recycling program for plastic and aluminum, which features their Dream Machine.”

Pike said that she approached Pepsi since Missouri Western sells products by PepsiCo Inc.

“As part of our program, Pepsi has provided the Dream Machines and all of the static collection bins,” West said.

West pointed out Waste Management doesn’t have a collections operation in Saint Joseph.

“They made the arrangement with Bright Disposal to provide a dumpster and collect the recycled materials,” West said.

Since the arrangement was made with PepsiCo through SIFE, the organization this past spring semester asked for funding from the Student Government Association. According to SGA President Alison Norris the organization submitted a bill, Notice of Action #8, which would provide SIFE $7,500 for recycling funding.

“SIFE was given $7,500 for the recycling program which would be used also towards a promotional over recycling the next school year,” Norris said.

According to Norris, the organization bought a truck, which cost $5,500, to pick up the recyclables from around the campus, and the rest of the funds would go towards items such as liners and the promotional for recycling for the next school year.

The biggest concern to many on campus seems to be how to address the lack of pick up on the recyclables.

According to Missouri Western Student Laura Beal the organization needs to step up.

“Students are obviously participating with the program, so there should be an increased effort on MWSU’s part to make sure the bins are emptied in a timely manner,” she said.

According to West, the backlog of bin collection has been an unfortunate consequence, but has made some headway.

“I have hired two students this week,” West said. “Once they begin their duties, we will begin to catch up on the backlog.”

Up to this point, West himself was picking up and dropping off the bin collections.

SIFE is responsible for picking up the bins and recycling the collections, but Pike has always had a different idea in mind.

“I am truly upset that maintenance is not in charge of taking care of the recycling bins,” Pike said.

According to West, there was only one person in charge before he hired the two new workers.

“Ultimately, I am, since I agreed to supervise the program in order to get it approved,” West said.

The adviser of the organization was taking up the duty which was meant to be for two students who were employed by Academic Affairs. Norris believes there are solutions to the problems.

“I think that it would be beneficial for SIFE if needed to employee a third person, or ask for volunteers to come and help do pick up and drop off,” Norris said.

Norris believes that changes could be made to the organization.

“I just wish that SIFE would do the job, but if it wasn’t for the bins being on campus then the recyclables would have just been thrown in the trash,” Norris said.

West points out that the program is being revised.

“Instead of having students work 15 hours per week, we will have three students working 10 hours a week,” West said. “This will allow students to adjust to changes in their weekly demands in coursework.”