Tech Directions - January 2008 - (Page 19)

A Peer-Reviewed Article Don’t Throw It Away! Raise Recycling Awareness Through Communications Project By Edward J. Lazaros and Ray Shackelford ejlazaros@bsu.edu; rshackelford@bsu.edu A du MERICANS discard a huge amount of material every day. The activity we describe here— determining how much waste is thrown out or recycled in the school cafeteria over a five-day period—dramatically increases students’ awareness of this fact of contemporary life. Armed with the information they’ve gathered, students go on to the constructive and educational activity of designing tent-card advertising that can be used to encourage recycling and reduce solid waste produced in the cafeteria. ers, and refrigerators (EPA, 2003). According to the Agency, organic materials comprise most municipal solid waste (MSW). Paper and paperboard products account for 35 percent of MSW; followed by food scraps 24 percent; plastics 11 percent; metals 8 percent; wood 6 percent; glass 5 percent; miscellaneous waste 3 percent; and rubber, leather, and textiles 7 percent. At present, people create more and more waste every year. Accord- Background The everyday garbage or trash our society discards commonly consists of packaging, clothing, bottles, food scraps, paper, newspapers, appliances, discarded household items, clothing, paint, and batteries. According to Ross (1989), solid waste is unwanted or discarded material that is solid or semisolid in form. In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that household waste ranged from package wrapping, food scraps, and grass clippings to old sofas, computEdward J. Lazaros is an assistant professor, and Ray Shackelford is a professor, Department of Technology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN. Recycle Fig. 1—Recycling model ing to the EPA (2003), “since 1980, the total annual generation of municipal solid waste has increased more than 50 percent to its 2003 level of just over 236 million tons per year—topping 2002 by more than half a million tons” (p. 1). Americans use more than 67 million tons of paper per year, or about 580 pounds per person, and throw away 25 trillion Styrofoam cups. Consider that, according to O’Neill (2003), a small portion of this waste contributes to Mount Rumpke, one of the highest points in Ohio at 1,075 feet above sea level. Mount Rumpke is actually a “mountain of solid waste” at a local landfill. Some waste is organic or biodegradable. In nature, microorganisms can recycle organic or biodegradable material back into the earth’s soil through decomposition. Other waste, like iron or steel nails, rust and break down through a chemical process. With a conscious effort from our whole society, we could recycle many of the materials that end up in landfills. By reducing, reusing, and recycling waste, we can all help to conserve the planet’s natural resources. (See Fig. 1.) According to the EPA (1988), disposing all waste in a landfill is not a viable solution. Landfills can cause groundwater contamination and gas emission pollution, which can negatively impact human health. The most logical alternative to disposing of waste in landfills is to reduce, reuse, and recycle as much waste as possible. Yet while recycling is a logical alternative to disposing of solid waste in landfills, it is not always a widely accepted solution. But, still, recycling is on the rise. According to the EPA (2003), “the total MSW recover rate, which in- ce Re Re use www.techdirections.com COMMUNICATION 19 http://www.techdirections.com

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Tech Directions - January 2008

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