Talking trash: UConn's litterbug problem isn't hard to solve

On the five-minute walk from W lot to the Chem building, an incredible amount of garbage litters both sides of the sidewalk. What seems to be at least a 30-rack of beer cans, several empty water bottles, numerous snack wrappers and discarded papers from someone's organic-chemistry class are strewn in the grass and gravel that people walk by every day. So what exactly is the problem with this sad scene?

The garbage everywhere on campus poses several problems, the first of which being that it just looks bad. Students taking tours are seeing our campus for the first time. Someone's McDonald's bag shouldn't be a stop along the way. Even to current students the garbage all around is upsetting.

"The litter on campus is disgusting," said Allie Edelstein, a 3rd-semester fine arts major. "I hate walking past the garbage cans and seeing this weekend's beer bottles spilling out onto the ground."

Once trash makes its way onto the ground, more seems to pile up with it. People assume that if someone else already ignored the trash cans that are all over campus, that they might as well put their cup on the side of the road too. On a college campus, this "monkey see, monkey do" mindset is not hard to imagine.

Perhaps the most concerning part of our littering problem is the amount of recyclables that are on the ground and not in their proper place, a recycling bin.

"It really bothers me [...] the lack of knowledge that students at UConn have about recycling," said Alexis Essa, a 5th-semester marketing major. "Often times there are not only cans thrown on the ground, but people throw away plastic coffee cups that could be recycled too."

The university's trash problem isn't just unsightly - it's also costly. Not only does it cost the university money to pick it up, but by not recycling bottles everyone loses money. In 2005, the scrap value of 135 billion wasted beverage bottles and cans was over $2.1 billion. This is on a much larger scale than UConn experiences, but the statistic shows how we as students are contributing to these astronomical numbers.

But we can reduce our impact on our community. Littering is an easily controlled problem as long as the people that do it are informed about the harm it can cause. People need to throw their trash in a garbage can. This doesn't mean aim at a garbage can from five feet away and hope to make it in; it means make sure trash ultimately ends up in a receptacle. Double-check that the beverages bottles are recyclable. UConn has a very simple system and recycling containers are everywhere. When in doubt, recycle it anyway. And lastly, pick up litter on the ground. Just one piece per day can make a huge impact. Whether you're on a run or just trying to make it to class on time, take the time to help out our community and environment by putting that wrapper into the trash can three feet away.