Manuel Veloria
Since the release of the controversial documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” everyone is thinking about recycling and saving Mother Earth. But once you’re done reading this issue of The Roundup, what do you do? Do you do the convenient thing and leave it behind or do you recycle the newspaper?
It’s sad to say that most of these newspapers will simply become trash. Since they are left on benches and will be scattered all over the place creating an eyesore on that green grass of the campus. It seems, as though, most students, teachers and staff are not taking responsibility for recycling newspapers and other thing.
I’ve have always been appalled by those who have trouble standing up and taking a few steps towards recycling bins that are stationed on every corner of our campus. Not to mention those empty bottles are being left behind on tables.
From the moment you enter campus from Victory Boulevard and Mason Avenue, you’ll notice those recycling bins as you walk towards the campus, but it is merely a container that is being ignored by everybody.
Every now and then, if you take a peek inside these bins you’ll be amazed at what you’ll see inside.
They are empty.
These recycling stations are just as the empty as bottles we have finished drinking.
Homeless people who dive in those dirty trash bins do a better job of recycling than us.
And we all know why they do that, and that’s because of money.
A well-educated person well should know what the purpose of these recycling bins is since we’re all informed of the pollution it can produce.
But money isn’t the issue here; it’s about how we are given the opportunity to do something to clean up our community. It’s already served to us in a silver platter, and all we need to do is take action into it. The recycling bins are empty, and it’s right there, so why not put those materials that can be recycled in.
Also, it’s just hard for me to comprehend when somebody says they’re only getting only a few cents for recycling. Little do they know that with every bottle I collect, every newspaper I gather and every depleted battery I gather in my little brown box is one step into making the Earth cleaner.
A year ago, I started recycling and at first I thought it was very silly for me to collect all this garbage when I can just throw it in the trash or leave it on the street.
But as time went by, I developed a sense that I’m not only doing this for the money. I also developed a great sense of helping my community and the Earth itself.
So, I gathered all the information there is about recycling. With all the newspapers I’ve collected and recycled being turned into fresh newsprint, the bottles I’ve gathered being recycled, I made the air we breathe cleaner. The batteries I’ve compiled are cutting down the mercury that is poisoning the L.A. River and the beaches I love to visit during the hot summer season.
Everyone who is on campus should start recycling since the time is now. Recycling bins and centers are all over us. The door has already been opened for us and all we have to do is act.