According to Director of Grounds John Hibbs Albion College recycled “179,420 pounds of material” in 2019. In a “considerable drop-off,” Hibbs said that number fell to “50,460 pounds” in 2024.
As a response to low recycling rates in recent years, Hibbs, along with CSE faculty director Thomas Wilch and Wilch’s Introduction to Environmental Sustainability class, have started an initiative called “Bins for Brits” where students can get personal recycling bins for their dorm rooms and apartments.
According to Ortonville junior Margaret Gilbert, a student in the Introduction to Environmental Sustainability class, CSE sent forms for students to request recycling bins through Albion Today. Green Day on Thursday served as both a distribution day and an informative event for students interested in sustainability.
Gilbert said the project is “a step” towards making changes on campus, and that “it’s been reflecting things we’ve been lacking in the past.”
With the removal of recycling bins for certain residence halls, there was a notable decrease in the amount of recycling being done, Hibbs said. The removal was not without cause according to Hibbs, as contamination became a big concern for both Grounds and Granger, Albion’s waste management service provider.
“Through these last few years where there’s been too much contamination, we’ve been forced to have to remove some of the containers,” Hibbs said.
The new initiative makes recycling more accessible to students who found it difficult to recycle before.
Portland senior Ava Guilford said that she’d “never been super educated on how to recycle correctly.” She said what inspired her to get a recycling bin was “wanting to do better” and that “we owe it to the environment to educate ourselves.”
Similarly, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, first-year Anu Mendsaikhan said she got her recycling bin because she “just wanted to recycle.”
Before checking out bins equipped with QR codes with campus recycling information, Green Day attendees were instructed to take a quiz testing their knowledge on common recycling practices. This information can also be found on Grounds’ page on the Albion College website.
“Offering people recycling bins for their dorms means that it’s a little bit more practical for them,” Gilbert said.
For Wilch, “success will depend on students’ willingness” to use the bins correctly.
Wilch said his real hope for the project went beyond just recycling.
“There’s a lot of super critical environmental issues that our world is facing right now,” Wilch said.
Wilch added that he hopes to “raise environmental awareness and concern overall.”
“Our mission is to empower students to be social and environmental changemakers,” Wilch said.
Wilch said in an email sent on Sunday that if students are looking to check out a bin, they can email [email protected], or check the Albion Today for future tabling from the program.
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