It used to be all a student had to learn to get a good education was the three R’s—reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. And although Guilford has added a few requirements to that basic list, the three R’s are still an essential part of the curriculum. Their meaning has changed, though—now they stand for reduce, reuse, and, especially, recycle.

The students in charge of recycling education on campus this year are sophomores Katherine Gardner and Eileen Naples, co-presidents of Forevergreen.

“The problem is that the available recycling is not being used properly,” said Gardner at a recent meeting. “People are sticking junk in there.”

When Guilford students separate recyclable waste from the rest of their trash, using the green bags and blue cans conveniently provided by the school, the housekeeping staff can drop it in one of several specially marked recycling dumpsters.

Members of the City of Greensboro’s Solid Waste Management team then pick up the recycling, sort it into various categories, take it to the recycling plant to be broken down, and sell the material to manufacturers who use it to make new products.

Last year, the City of Greensboro recycled 31, 553 tons of material, according to Waste Reduction Superintendent Wayne Turner. In addition, 853 tons of old appliances were recycled, and 7, 051 tons of yard waste was composted. This seems like a lot, but actually it was only 19% of the total 203,150 tons of waste produced.

North Carolina state guidelines suggest that at least 40% of a city’s waste stream be recycled.

“The good news is, there’s a lot of progress to be made,” said Turner.
Gardner and Naples agree that improvements to the recycling program are necessary, on a campus-wide and a city-wide level.

Their strategy for the year includes increasing the convenience of recycling on campus by providing more recycling bins, increasing student awareness through posted lists of what materials are recyclable, and activities such as a dumpster dive on the Founder’s Lawn.

“I think, for the most part, Guilford College’s student population is pretty environmentally ethical,” said Turner, who was a member of the Class of 1985.

Naples, however, stressed that “our recycling program would work more effectively if we had more students involved.”

Students who would like to help with recycling and other environmental projects on campus are welcome to attend Forevergreen’s weekly meetings, on Wednesday nights at 7 pm, in the Environmental Studies room in King.