Pollution

Fully facilitated recycling centers are coming to a building near you. That is, if a certain group of students has anything to do with it.
Mary Simpson is a senior biology major from Greer, S.C. She is also vice president of Winthrop's Environmental Council. Simpson, along with Jennifer McAdams of Rock Hill Clean & Green, organized an informational meeting on Jan. 28, 2003, to give resident assistants ideas on how to get their residents interested in recycling.
"Our main goal this year is to educate about recycling, not to go statewide or be tree-huggers," Simpson said. "We've got enough problems here on campus."
Since the council's beginning, eight-10 faithful members have had one goal: to get students and faculty at Winthrop recycling, Simpson said.
At the Jan. 28 meeting, Simpson and McAdams spoke on such topics as energy and water conservation and recycling. According to Simpson, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, office paper, cardboard, newspaper, phone books and magazines can currently be recycled on campus. Tillman Hall, Margaret Nance and Phelps are among the buildings with functioning recycling centers this semester.
The Environmental Council officers also met with Brien Lewis, Executive Assistant to the President, on Nov. 22, 2002, to present the results of their research on the current recycling program.
The council surveyed students and scoured campus in preparation for this meeting. They contacted other universities, including Furman, about the details of their recycling programs.  
Jennifer Walker, the council's treasurer, said that preliminary research efforts suggested that students would be very interested in recycling if given a good opportunity.
However, while students seemed to be filling up the recycling bins, the fact that no one was emptying them led students to resort back to trashcans.
"With glass and bottles, it was kind of disappointing," said Walker, a junior accounting and economics major from Iva, S.C.
After the...