Westminster students promote recycling celebration

A Westminster College student organization dedicated to promoting environmental sustainability celebrated America Recycles Week by hosting several events on campus from Nov. 9 - 15.

Members of Environmentally Concerned Students (ECoS) kicked its environmentally friendly week by hosting a recycled craft night Nov. 9. ECoS member Ella Leslie said students turned old T-shirts into reusable tote bags for groceries, decorated cans to use as desk organizers and made little planters from plastic bottles.

The organization also held a "swap shop" Nov. 10 to encourage students to recycle or donate their clothes to local organizations, collected recycled electronics Nov. 11 at Moser's. On Thursday, the group organized a viewing of documentary on campus titled "Addicted to Plastic," which Leslie said depicts the extent that modern society uses plastic products and the lasting impact of plastic pollution in the environment.

"We wanted to convey the situation that single-use plastics can lead to in concerning the environment and the cleanliness of the earth in general," Leslie said about why the group chose to show the film.

On Friday, ECoS members gave a presentation on campus to educate students about efficient recycling practices and raise environmental pollution awareness. Leslie thinks that most millennials are more eco-conscious and express more concern about environmental sustainability and conservation compared to previous generations.

"We have a better idea of what it means to be environmentally aware, but I still think our generation could improve on the ways in which we live our lives to reflect those beliefs," she said. "A lot of people care more than we think, but I think there's a lack of understanding and general confusion about what to recycle, how to recycle and kind of how easy it can be ... Maybe some community members just aren't aware of that service or how to acquire that service for their home."

However, even with environmental issues gaining momentum in worldwide news coverage in the past decade, Leslie said some people still lack a clear understanding "of what and how to be involved or take action, which is something that we see on campus a lot."

On Saturday morning, members volunteered at Kingdom Projects and were given a tour of the facility.

"Because they're the only recycling center here in Callaway County, they just have such a huge influx, so we went out for a little bit to help pick up some of the recycling that they had just lying around," Leslie said.

Although Leslie is glad to have the environmentally friendly company in Fulton, she said its size hinders a greater recycling capacity. She hopes that the city considers implementing an initiative larger recycling program that allows more recyclable materials to be collected. Leslie said that if the city of Fulton had a mechanism to recycle glass and more plastic items, it would be "very beneficial and successful," especially with the two colleges in town.

"They (Kingdom Projects) are not big enough to provide recycling services for glass and more plastics, so they can only do numbers one and two here in Fulton because that place is completely packed," Leslie said. "But they do all they can and it's totally appreciated."