JRN 200 Rachel Yates

Off-campus and on-campus students know varying amounts of information about recycling. Kevin Murray, a junior and education major at MSU, lives in a house off-campus and does recycle. “Our recycling bin is just in our backyard usually. We take it to the front yard when we want to recycle so it’s really easy,” Murray said. Murray compared his off-campus experience recycling with his on-campus experience and said it is less work to recycle off-campus compared to the dorms because his recycling bin is in his backyard now while he had to walk all the way down the hall in the dorms. Murray went on to say he thinks recycling is important, but he does not know the full impact not recycling has on the environment. 

The average college student produces 640 pounds of solid waste each year, according to an article on Boston College’s website. Michigan State University provides students with many opportunities to recycle on-campus, but do college students really recycle and is there a difference between on-campus and off-campus recycling? Michelle Terrones, a freshman and pre-veterinary major at MSU, said she does recycle on-campus and her dormitory provided her with a trash bin that she uses along with one she brought from home to recycle conveniently. “I think MSU makes it really easy to recycle. They have them in pretty much every hall that we have here,” Terrones said. Terrones went on to say that she thinks it is important to recycle because not recycling fills up the landfills faster.