Recycling is something that most people in the world are aware of, but not everybody does it. Maybe we are aware of what recycling is but we are not aware of how important it is for our environment and our planet. Maybe there’s just not a recycling plan in your community and you don’t know how to take action on it, so you just let it pass. Well, the best way to start to take action in such an important project like recycling is to educate people and gather a group of people who are interested in making a difference. It is not hard, but it needs good organization and preparation. Here at Allen Community College students should be encouraged to make a plan for a recycling program.

There are a lot of athletes in this college that consume a lot of water bottles during the week and plastic bottles from energy drinks such as Gatorade. Also, many people consume cans of soda in the dorms. If we had recycling dispensers in the students’ dorms and on the campus, students would start to get initiative in helping this project and it could finally be a very successful project for the Allen community, as well as the city of Iola.

One of the things we can recycle the most at the college is the paper. As a student, I can see how there is a lot of paper waste in the library and in the classrooms. If a student writes an essay for a class and goes through the drafting process, with new pages for each revision, it is a whole lot of paper that is wasted and thrown into the trash can. I have wasted a lot of those papers or even old papers that won’t be useful anymore by tossing them into the trash because there is no option of recycling. But now we can do something about it.

There are some people who help with the recycling at the college and we appreciate that a lot; it is very helpful. Stacy Talkington, who is the person in charge of the college cafeteria, collects newspapers and magazines and also collects around 200 pounds of paper every four months. In the library, they collect and recycle the coffee cups that are used and that is going well since there are so many students who have coffee in the library every day. There are also members of the maintenance department that set recyclable paper aside to help in the effort.

One of the problems when this project is presented is that the nearest recycling center from the college is about an hour from here, so we can’t be delivering the recycle bins every week. However, we can bring together all the recycling products each month and make a plan to have someone deliver the recycling. If there is someone who has the commitment to do it, it would be a great solution.

Let’s keep in mind that this helps nobody but us, and by saying us I mean every single student and staff member at Allen. Whether it’s in your house, in your church, here at the college or in your community, one person can make a huge difference. This project can serve the purpose of motivating colleges around the area to help, too, and they can make a recycling project at their schools. This earth is ours, and we need to take care of it; let’s make a difference and do something positive that will affect us all in a positive way.