The Herald Online

Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Katrina Dillehay Dan Howard shows the recycle bins that will be used around campus during the Earth Day press conference in the Student Union Center Court. The recycle bins in place now are only temporary and will be replaced.

It's official. The ASU campus is now recycling plastic.

The initiative, a campaign platform for the newly elected Student Government Association President Ryan Beaird, was officially announced at the Earth Day celebration event Tuesday. Dan Howard, vice chancellor for academic affairs and research, was the guest speaker.

Howard, who participated in the first Earth Day in 1970 while a student at Manhattan College in New York, said students should follow the four R's to help the environment: reduce, replace, recycle and reuse.

"We are working locally to recycle plastic materials that will work wonderfully to help us globally," Howard said.

Currently, there are 36 temporary recycling bins set up around campus, with permanent bins expected to be in place after July 1. According to a press release, 20 additional bins will be placed around campus at a later date.

The newly installed initiative comes after a push by local students and teachers.

Brandon Schuk, a junior digital media and design major of Lake Village, was credited during the ceremony for pushing SGA to implement the program.

"It just seemed ridiculous to me that a university campus in 2008 did not have one in place. It was something that was easy to put in place," Schuk said.

The environmental sciences core class of Jennifer Bouldin has also been credited for taking the initiative.

"ASU is part of Focus the Nation, a network of universities across the nation and world," Bouldin said. "They challenged everyone to do a positive-focus event."

According to a news release, the class estimated that in 2007, a single individual consumed 30.2 gallons of bottled water on the ASU campus. Campus enrollment is currently at more than 10,000 students and 1,800 faculty and staff.

Beaird said more than 34,000 bottles were sold at Indian Stadium during the 2007 football season, and more than 5,000 bottles and 7,000 plastic 32 oz. cups were sold during the 2007-2008 men's basketball games.

The class also estimated that based on those numbers, the students can collect as much as two million plastic 20-ounce bottles in an average year.

Bouldin said the ceremony might become an annual event that could be expanded upon.

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