By SAMEER RAJ MASKEY
Staff Writer
 

Bates dining hall is trying to work out a venture of reducing the use of paper cups. Approximately 6000 paper cups are used every week in the dining hall. Since paper cups are not recycled it is clear that their use is not assisting the ongoing plan of recycling. Though paper cups are somewhat recyclable, the lack of a special grinder in the dining hall makes them wasteful. Anyone who wants to help take part in the ongoing recycling process can avoid the use of unrecyclable products. Using mugs instead of paper cups would be a good example. The dining hall is expecting students to use their glasses and coffee mugs instead of paper cups for drinking coffee inside the dining hall. If students feel uneasy with small cups then the dining hall wishes students to use their mugs, as it seems likely to be easier to carry around hot coffee in this cold winter in a mug than in small, crappy paper cups.

The whole point of the dining hall encouraging the use of other kinds of cups is to reduce the use of paper cups until it doesn't have to put any paper cups in the dining hall. This seems to be a pretty ambitious goal for the dining hall; but they are optimistic about the whole plan, because they have seen other colleges do it. Hence, it is a challenge and a chance for all the Bates family to prove their care for the environment.

While the dining hall is impatiently waiting for America Recycles Day to start its awareness program about the use of paper cups, the Den has already taken the initiative to reduce the use of paper cups. The Den has started the new policy of the planet mug. Answering the question, "What is your reason for starting this Planet Mug plan?" Pablo, the manager of the Den, says, "In a nutshell, it is aimed at reducing the use of paper cups."

The way the Planet Mug program works is one has to use the mugs provided by the Den to drink any kind of beverage inside den. If people use the mug five times, they get their sixth drink for free. Meanwhile, their ticket will be stamped each time they use the mugs. When the ticket has five stamps, it will be placed in a lottery. The winner each month will be awarded a mug with the logo of a green planet, the earth, on it. Thus, this reusable coffee mug is to be called "The Planet Mug."

This plan will hopefully help in the reduction of the use of paper cups. For now, people can use the Den's mugs only in the morning. If the mugs are not taken away from the Den and the plan turns out to be working well, then the Den is looking forward to pursuing the plan further. The only thing that students have to do is drink out of cups provided by the Den without using the paper cups. If all students think about this carefully and try to implement it then it will be a great help in the ongoing recycling process.

Besides this venture of reducing paper cups, there is another plan the environmental coalition is trying to implement - `use of chlorine free paper.' It is a sad fact that chlorine, which is harmful to human health in several ways, is used in the process of manufacturing the kind of papers Bates is using now. This use of chlorine leads to the formation of dioxin in the environment that can be passed to humans in several ways. The main effects of dioxin on human beings are disorders in child development and the female reproductive system, reduction in sperm count, increased risk of cancer, etc. To give Bates a clean and healthy atmosphere, the environmental coalition is trying their best to work out this plan.

When the members of the environmental coalition were asked what is the present condition of their environmental plans, they said, "Everyday people are coming up with innovative ideas, which demand the help of everyone. So, it is time for all of us to act for the environment. Let us all march forward with all of our strength to prove that the Bates family is strong enough to make the hardest environmental plans come true. Help the environment! Help the world!"