So, the stress that comes with the first few weeks of school seems to be fading. Everyone is settling into their new surroundings, new classes, and new friends. I know I’m not as worried as I was before. I think everyone is getting used to this place, and thinking of it as home. There is one big difference here for me however. I can’t get over the amount of waste we produce!

It just hit me when I saw trash pile up in my garbage can in less than 24 hours. Not only do we have so much trash, we don’t know how to get rid of it properly.

How old were you when you were taught to pick up after yourself? Most parents start their children off early. This doesn’t mean that kids always pick up after themselves, but they are usually forced to pick up. Adults were trying to embed in our system that it is polite to others and good for the environment when we take care of our messes.

Apparently as you grow older, you forget this skill. At my high school, trash was ridiculous. No one realized how this made our school look. No, we don’t have to go around picking up every piece of garbage we see, but cleaning up your own trash is expected. I think we are old enough to handle this “responsibility”.

I had hoped I left this type of juvenile behavior back in high school. This week I was proven wrong. As freshmen, we are assigned to do a lot of recycling projects throughout the year in our FYS groups. On Sept. 18, we participated in a recycling event. We got to empty the blue bins that are found on the bottom floor of each building. Sounds simple, huh?

Not exactly.

Most bins were pretty nasty. Some were even overflowing. Others held cans with liquid left inside that had dripped onto the floor, into the bin, or just leaked out the bottom. I guess it’s really hard to dump out what is left in the cans before throwing them in the recycling bin. Good job with the recycling and good job with being gross.

Then there are the hallways. I understand dirt, and maybe mud from everyday walking. But when you spill a drink or even food, you don’t leave it there for someone else to clean up. That is kind of disgusting, don’t you agree? I won’t say I’m the cleanest person, or that I’ve never littered, but I am continuously picking up junk scattered on the lawns. Sometimes I don’t even bother because it seems like a lost cause.

Could it be because that when our parents aren’t around, or that there are no rules to pick up after ourselves, we don’t feel the need to be cleanly? We pay to go to school here, shouldn’t we want to keep it clean? I’m beginning to wonder if at this point in our lives, we have lost the part of the brain that holds common sense.

What are trash cans for? Trash, maybe. And smoking posts? The ones right in front of the buildings are full, but the ones about 10 feet away of those have nothing in them. How hard is it to walk over to the empty one instead of over stuffing the one that is obviously full.

I know the world isn’t perfect, and that our campus isn’t going to be perfect. But this is our own space. I don’t understand how hard it is to take are of. The campus isn’t trashed or disgusting, it’s just sad how we, as so called adults, can’t take care of one simple thing.