By MATT ROSELLI
Staff Writer
 

BATES COLLEGE - Many Bates students returned to campus this fall to find a strange green bin in their room. "Cool, a laundry basket," thought some.

"Rectangle trash can?" Well, not really: those green bins are actually part of a totally new recycling program here at Bates.

Maria Libby, the Environmental Coordinator, reorganized the program with the help of the Physical Plant to implement the new changes. "We tried to make it convenient and easy for people," says Libby.

The student body seems to be somewhat clueless as to how this new program actually works. "We're still working to get this whole thing in place... we're asking for a little patience this fall."

However, information is on the way. Sometime this fall, "recycling educators," students hired by Libby, will come around to each dorm during a regular dorm meeting and explain how this program is to run. A web site with recycling information will also be up and running in the near future.

Basically, the program allows students to throw mixed recyclables (glass, plastic, and aluminum) into the green bins in their rooms. Additional blue bins will be issued to each room for mixed papers (magazines, junk mail, etc.).

Whenever necessary, students take their green and blue bins to the nearest "recycling center." Every dorm has a few of these located inside at designated areas.

When students are at the recycling center, they will see a color-coded reference chart of which materials go where. They simply sort their materials into the appropriate bin: orange for non-returnable glass, plastic, and aluminum, yellow for returnable cans and bottles, red for newspapers, magazines, etc., blue for notebook paper, junk mail, paperboard boxes, etc., and gray for cardboard and paper bags. Students can consult the reference chart for answers to any quick questions they have.

Libby, who has been the Environmental Coordinator at Bates for one year, also helped develop and run a watch dog program on the Narragansett Bay to prevent pollution. She says this new program at Bates is also to try "to raise awareness" about environmental issues. On November fifteenth, America Recycles Day, Libby hopes to plan some activities to help raise environmental consciousness on campus.

Last year on this campus, an estimated $7,500 worth of redeemable bottles and cans were thrown out. The new recycling program is geared towards preventing this type of wastefulness.