Going Green Isn't Actually So Green

Everyday I stare at the “TP Times” Be Green issue and the blue recycling bins that litter every dorm and classroom on campus. Not only is recycling everywhere, I am asked to take an entirely separate trip to recycle plastics #1-7, paper, junk mail, aluminum cans, glass bottles and cardboard. I remember a time when people just threw all that stuff into a single garbage bin that was magically whisked away by Waste Management each Friday. It involved fewer trips and a lot fewer bins.

Have you ever actually thought about recycling: what really happens to all that “stuff” after you drop it off and how it turns from a fifth of McCormick’s you hid in your bottom drawer to the “Naked Juice” you had for breakfast? Or is it actually even reused to make the plastic we use everyday? According to the Ecology Center online, “none of the recovered plastic containers are being made into containers again but into new secondary products such as textiles, parking lot bumpers, or plastic lumber – all unrecyclable products.” Not only are the products we are encouraged to recycle converted into environmentally unfriendly goods, an immense amount of energy is required to do this. Recycling plastic uses as much or more energy to alter its original state than it does to produce. It takes more energy to produce recycled products than it does to dispose of them in traditional landfill methods thereby increasing the production of greenhouse gases. Moreover, everything else we are asked to recycle is seemingly pointless. Glass is made from sand. The Earth is not running out of sand. Newspapers, when buried, stay intact for decades and, when burned, become mere ashes. So, why recycle?

In addition to having to stare at my RA’s new “Go Green” board every time I walk to my room, I am now being forced to go tray less every Tuesday with “Trayless Tuesdays.” It’s an epidemic sweeping college campuses nationwide. The DU Clarion claims it is being implemented “to reduce food waste, water waste and help students avoid the freshman 15.” Personally, I think this is a bunch of nonsense. “What are they going to think of next? Forkless Fridays? Spoonless Saturdays? Maybe you can implement Starving Sundays and simply not serve food once a week,” an anonymous anti-green author joked. That will really help kids avoid the dreaded first year weight gain.

However, the issue of going “trayless” to help decrease food waste once a week seems miniscule compared to the food waste epidemic in Mexico. According to John Tierney’s article, Recycling Is Garbage, “The typical household in Mexico City buys fewer packaged goods than an American household, but it produces one-third more garbage, chiefly because Mexicans buy fresh foods in bulk and throw away large unused, spoiled, and stale portions.” Those fruits, vegetables and other perishable packaged foods are protected by plastic wrap and foam are less likely to biodegrade. The lightweight plastic packaging requires much less energy to manufacture and transport than traditional alternatives like cardboard or paper. Food companies have switched to plastic packaging because they make money by using resources efficiently. So why are we so worried about our 1520 pounds of waste and companies use of plastic when it’s plastic itself that’s helping prevent the excessive waste of food? Shouldn’t we be trying to do something about the 5100 tons of waste that Mexico City produces daily? I think we are focused on the wrong thing here. Instead of being mindless trend followers, we should inform ourselves of what the true issues at hand are. If everyone is so preoccupied with “making a difference” and “change” maybe we should direct our focus elsewhere.

I’ve got a suggestion for those of you who are really truly concerned and think that Trayless Tuesdays is our small step to making big difference in the long run: next year when you are applying for study abroad and you are totally amped to going skiing in the Swiss Alps or surfing with your bros down under, reconsider. Maybe what you should be doing is going down to Mexico and helping sort out all the garbage. If you are really as concerned with food waste as you make it seem every Tuesday when you hang out by the empty tray racks, Mexico probably is the place for you to go. So read up and pack some plastic gloves because things are going to get dirty down there.

There has also been a huge fuss over our excessive use of plastic bags. Huge posters hang in the JMac lobby informing us of just how many plastic bags we use on a daily, monthly and yearly basis. However, there is one small thing that is being overlooked, instead of using plastic bags, people have started switching to paper bags. All the “greenies” are too concerned with lack of plastic bag decay in landfills but according to American Chemistry Online “plastic grocery bags require 70 percent less energy to manufacture, produce 50 percent less greenhouse gas emissions and create five times less waste than bulky paper bags.” Paper, cardboard and other organic materials are technically biodegradable but tend to remain intact in the airless confines of a landfill and actually use much more space than plastic packaging. Twelve plastic grocery bags fit the space occupied by one paper bag. So I am confused here, why is everyone making such a big deal about plastic harming the environment when not using plastic would prove to be more harmful?

For all of you out there who are rolling your eyes and thinking, “If it takes a long time for paper to decompose, why don’t we just recycle it or better yet not use it at all, after all we are ‘killing trees,’” then boy do I have some fun facts for you! STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE DAMN TREES! Magazines, publishing companies and newspapers aren’t marching into the forest and chopping down trees to make paper, they use tree farms. Tree farms are farms that grow trees for the sole purpose of producing paper. The trees are grown with the intention of being cut down at some point to make the books, magazines and newspapers that we all love to read. So here’s some advice, stop feeling so bad every time you walk into Borders and thinking of all the trees that were killed in order to make the books inside, instead start helping fuel the economy and buy a few. Not only will you feel better about your contribution to the market but it may come in handy; after all if you buy a big enough book you may just be able to use it as a substitute to a tray on Tuesdays.

So what is the answer…well maybe there is not just one. We all have to practice our own form of recycling. Maybe it is using an old piece of funky used furniture we picked up from Goodwill or turning that vintage dress into a cool, hip ensemble. We all should continue to recycle whatever way we choose rather than following the dictatorial attitudes of a flier, a university, or the media.