Siena Gets Greener

By Peter Dillon '12

Starting this fall, Siena College is making it even easier to "go green." Consistent with the college’s mission to respect the environment, Siena has adopted a new recycling system thanks in part to the input Facilities received from community members last spring.

At the close of the Spring 2008 semester, students, staff and faculty were asked what type of receptacle would make it easiest to recycle. For the residence hall rooms, the students decided that a small basket easily hung on a doorknob or wall would be best. When the basket fills up, students empty them into larger recycling containers in their common areas. As a result, any papers or plastic that would normally end up in the garbage are now being recycled.

Siena faculty and staff have green baskets that they are now being used to recycle all of their paper products. The recyclying system used by Facilities is called single stream recycling. This means that all types of recyclables can be put in the same container making it easier than ever to participate in Siena’s efforts of going green. On each receptacle on campus there is a sign indicating what can and cannot be recycled.

Recycling is important to preserving our environment and making the earth

more sustainable, yet the majority of things that can be recycled are still thrown out. Americans throw away 25 million plastic bottles every hour. The average household throws away 13,000 separate peices of paper every year. Most of that is junk mail and packaging. Every minute that goes by, 100 acres of rainforect are being cut down.

Siena Community Members Can Now Recycle:
Newspapers and Magazines
Junk mail
Glass bottles
Soda bottles
Plastics #1 through #7
Metal cans, tin, steel and aluminum
Cardboard



Do not recycle:
Pizza Boxes
Light bulbs
Plastic bags
Motor oil or antifreeze containers
Broken Glass