Recycling bill passed in SGA House and Senate
Recycle bins located in a Merrill Hall Residence Hall laundry room.
Legislation to install Styrofoam recycling containers for laundry rooms in residence halls was passed in the House and Senate for Student Government Association’s Nov. 23 meeting.
The legislation, endorsed by the Sustainability Committee, supports an effort to make Central Michigan University's campus more recycle friendly.
“I think it would be very good for the residence halls to have another recycle bin, especially for Styrofoam or to increase CMU’s recycling capabilities,” said Sustainability Committee Chairperson Drake Smarch. “Through this legislation, we could keep unnecessary Styrofoam out of landfills and out of the environment.”
The legislation could potentially be brought before administration at a later date. From there, it will be decided whether or not the proposal is economically feasible before being implemented across campus.
“(A bill) literally means nothing unless Administration decides to pick it up,” Mahone said. “The starting point is for us to go to the university administration, say ‘students want this’ and then open up a point of discussion as to how we can make this happen.”
Who SGA goes to in order to bring legislation into reality varies by bill, Mahone said.
“This bill, like so many others, is the first step towards doing something especially for raising awareness." he said. "For this, because it specifically pertains to our residence halls, our Sustainability Committee will probably (benefit by) taking it to ResLife."
Bins to recycle mixed papers and aluminum or plastic bottles are already present in residence hall laundry rooms across campus.
Boyne City sophomore Liz O’Donnell said the addition of Styrofoam specific recycle bins would encourage students to think twice before throwing out their trash.
“This is a really good idea, it just makes sense,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know you can recycle Styrofoam so they would probably have the tendency to just throw it away, especially if there’s not a receptacle where (Styrofoam) can be conveniently disposed of.”
No amendments were made to the bill before it was passed.
