Students become frustrated while their surroundings turn to trash.
The beginning of the new year has not shown too much promise for environmentally conscious students. You would think that the hotspots for trash would be inside garbage bins. However, this is not the case. Bits and pieces of garbage have made another strong appearance on the streets of Lennoxville and on the Bishop’s campus.
This can be seen if you take a walk on College Street on your way on or off campus. Bottles, cans of beer, cartons of milk, Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s wrappers are half-hidden within the snow, waiting for the eventual thaw to take place. Some trash is even located right beside, rather than within, garbage cans. Other trash won’t make it as close or even in one piece, with the evidence of shards of glass on the pavement.
Regarding broken glass, one student expressed his concern by saying, “The biggest problem is that students are neglecting safety.” Another student noted, “I’m so happy that I don’t have a dog. I’d have to carry it halfway to school.” The concerns of these students aren’t simply environmental. The trash is also a safety issue. With the ice and snow involved, people could easily slip onto glass.
To add to the environmental issue of trash around campus, a lot of garbage that isn’t being disposed of properly is recyclable. A group of female students stated that we seem to be taking a step backward instead of forward in becoming environmentally friendly—at least in the recycling department: “People don’t seem to know how to recycle.”
Not only are there risks for us, but there are also risks for small animals that live in and around Lennoxville, and on Bishop’s campus. Squirrels, birds, stray cats and dogs might come across some half eaten meal or part of an iced cappuccino that wasn’t properly thrown out. This could potentially harm or kill them if they ingest the plastic, or, as stated before, if they step on broken glass.
With all of this being said, the amount of trash might not be completely visible thanks to fallen snow. We have to keep in mind that it will still remain after the big thaw in the spring. Some may think that it is easier to pollute our surroundings without repercussion since it cannot be seen right away. An example of “out of sight, out of mind” is the amount of trash that is building up in the forests on campus. Specifically, large amounts of broken glass bottles can be found in the forests located near the pathway from Champlain residences.
While this trash might not affect students as much as trash on the streets of Lennoxville, it actually has a greater ecological impact since animals and plants are more common in that area. In addition to this, because the trash is not noticeable by students or other residents of Lennoxville, it tends to not get picked up. The consequence of this is that the amount of garbage will be amplified over the years and as a result cause even more damage to the environment.
Cleaning up all of the trash might not be enough if the problem still persists from semester to semester. Students who want to give Bishop’s a green identity will have to find creative ways to resolve this issue at its core.
