Keep your promises by recycling and composting correctly

Have you heard about the nationwide waste crisis? For years, the United States and other powerful Western countries have been sending massive amounts of plastic recyclable waste to places like China to be processed and recycled. But in 2017, China passed a new policy effective in January 2018 that has stopped the importation of this recyclable waste to their country; read this NPR article to learn more. Recycling centers and other processors in the United States were not prepared for the backed up volumes of recyclables they are receiving as a result and are struggling to meet the demands of the U.S. population. In many instances, loads of recyclable waste that have a percentage of nonrecyclable materials (called contamination) are being turned away from centers or sent to landfills. Where does this leave Clark University?

Since Clark is not single stream and Clarkies have always done well separating their waste from recyclables and compostables correctly — reducing contamination —  we as a community are okay for the foreseeable future. However, this situation has raised questions about how we can do better. For one, we can Keep Our Promises to each other, to Clark, and to the Earth, to reduce contamination in our waste streams so recyclable and compostable waste are not sent to the landfill. When we place something in the incorrect bin, we are breaking our promise and allowing this waste to be dealt with incorrectly. Will you keep your promises?