Dear InterFraternity Council, One of the crowning achievements of the Greek life at Penn State is the continual involvement

in helping the community whether it is through THON, tutoring, marathons, fundraisers, or blood drives. Recently, there has been an effort to recycle disposable cups at Fraternities where collecting a certain number of cups could be counted as an hour of community service done by the fraternity. While this is a good effort, I believe the energy is being misdirected. These cups are more accepted in the minds of people as for the trash, and by the end of the night the cups are pretty disgusting anyways. Disposable cups do produce a lot of wastemy fraternity, DKE, goes through hundreds and hundreds every weekbut other containers that many fraternities continuously throw away have much greater potential savings in both energy and material. Everyday, fraternities are throwing away glass bottles, aluminum cans, tin cans, and plastic bottles/jugs that can all be easily recycled. I believe that the IFC should encourage recycling in the Greek community by potentially subsidizing recycling, either by service cost or community service hours. Over the past decade or so, there has been a big push towards being green as issues such as global warming and energy crises arise in the news. Penn States main campus, University Park, has not been immune to this movement; over the past seven years, Penn State has increased the percentage of waste recycled from 44% to a highly respectable 58% (Recycling and Waste Management). More paper, plastic, aluminum, and glass is being recycled now than ever before; but, theres still room for improvement. Ideally we could be recycling almost 90% of our waste by weight. Ton for ton, hauling recyclables is several times cheaper than waste, so by increasing the amount we recycle we save the environment and the university money at the same time. The increase in recycling has

happened because of an increase in the number of recycling receptacles as well as posters informing students to recycle. Every floor of every dormitory has several large recycling bins for paper, cans, glass, and plastic. In the dorms, you cannot turn in any direction without seeing posters reminding students to recycle and conserve electricity. The green mentality, however, ends with campus. Fraternities, not being on campus, do not contribute to these statistics, but we can certainly learn from them. Recycling aluminum cans takes 95% less energy than manufacturing a new can from virgin materials (Earth 911). This means that it takes the same amount of energy to make a can out of virgin aluminum as it takes to make twenty cans of recycled aluminum. Aluminum cans are more prevalent off campus than on campus; by weight, less than 1% of the recyclables on campus in the past year were aluminum cans. Stores on campus mainly sell beverages either in cups, resealable plastic bottles, or clear glass bottles. Even most vending machines only dispense beverages in plastic bottles. Cans simply arent as available and are used much less on campus. But, at fraternities, aluminum cans are everywhere; aluminum cans run the place. In fact, only drinks served in cans are allowed at parties and socials; other containers like glass bottles are banned. From personal experience, about a thousand aluminum cans are thrown away every party. Stacked end on end, the cans from one party would be almost a mile long. If all of these aluminum cans were recycled, enough energy would be saved to run a 100-watt light bulb for about 4000 hours, or almost half a year (Earth 911). Similarly, that amount of energy is the equivalent of throwing away 47 gallons of gasoline. This is just the waste in aluminum cans from one party from one fraternity. Extrapolating this to the Greek

community at Penn State, one of the largest Greek communities in the nation, we waste a lot of energy through the aluminum we carelessly throw away. In addition to the huge amount of energy wasted, these aluminum cans are now taking up space in a landfill. Every ton of aluminum takes up over ten cubic yards of landfill space, all of which is completely unnecessary. Unlike other materials that are generally recycled, such as paper or plastic, aluminum can be recycled for forever and never has to end up in a landfill (WasteCare). To reuse aluminum, all that needs to be done is melt the material down and scrape away the impurities that float to the top. However, if not recycled, an opportunity is lost and that can will be in and remain in a landfill forever, never to be recycled again. While the earth is by no means short on aluminum metalit being the third most abundant element in the earths crustwe are short in space to store our trash. With such limited space, it makes no sense to fill it with material we should not be throwing away in the first place. Aside from aluminum cans, the rest of recyclables used throughout the week can add up. Think about all the bottles people drink from, whether bottled water, milk, tea, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, or even beer; now multiply this number by all the brothers who live under one roof and that by all the fraternities on campus. In the kitchen, tin cans, food containers, bottles, and foam are being thrown away left and right to feed a hungry brotherhood. The pattern here is clear; much of what fraternities throw away, filing large dumpsters, can be recycled and manufactured into new products. A fraternity is just a house by name, it is basically an apartment building where a large amount of people live and should recycle appropriately.

With so much waste, why do not the fraternities implement a recycling plan of their own? Well, some do, but the majority dont; recycling is simply too much of an inconvenience and there is little pressure to do so. When the issue of recycling was brought up at a weekly chapter meeting in my fraternity, a senior brother merely remarks: Good luck with that, recycling is a great idea, but its too much work. Itll all end up in the dumpster; youll see. And for the most part, its true. There was a brief effort to put cans in a separate trashcan, but that receptacle organically became a trashcan over the course of just one day. There are garbage bins in every room and large receptacles in bathrooms as well as main community rooms; to also have recycling bins would take up more space and double the amount of bag that needs to be lugged outside. In normal living conditions, such as an apartment where people live independently, the responsibility to recycle is very individualized. In a large group such as a fraternity, the guilt is diluted so much that each person doesnt feel burdened so much to recycle. The fraternity acts as a microcosm where each individual feels powerless to change the community as a whole. The strangest part of the lack of participation in recycling from these fraternities houses is that they are technically breaking the law. Pennsylvania Act 101 states that all residents and businesses in State College are required to recycle the following materials: paper, cardboard, plastic and glass bottles, and cans. This act even created grants residents and businesses can apply for to help offset the cost of a recycling service. The overall goal of this act was to increase the percent of waste to be recycled to 25%, a lowly goal considering Penn States University Parks recycling rate is over twice that. But, given that many houses do not recycle without penalty, it appears that this law isnt exactly enforced.

The IFC in many aspects keeps fraternities from breaking too many lawsmainly drinking relatedand recycling should be no different. (Department of Environmental Protection) The IFC can give the incentive fraternities need to recycle. The IFC can turn the idea of recycling into a reality. Since recycling in our township isnt free, the IFC could potentially subsidize recycling costs to make it free for fraternities, making it a no brainer to recycle. Recycling services are variable in cost and specific to every resident and business, so a real estimate on the cost of a recycling program is hard to obtain. But, generally recycling services are cheaper than garbage collection programs and shouldnt really put a strain on a fraternitys budget. Another option, which costs the IFC nothing, would be to incentivize recycling with the equivalent of community service hours, such as offering 1 hour of community service for every 15 cans recycled. Fraternities are competitive about getting in as many community hours as possible; recycling all of a sudden could become a game where everyone wins. Another cheap option is to make each fraternity have a green chair who would direct a recycling effort and maybe transport recyclables to the recycling facility so that the fraternity doesnt have to pay for collection. Even something as simple as a poster could be enough to persuade fraternities enough to recycle. The positive impacts of recycling dont just stop at the environment; if the Greek community acts as a whole, the green movement of recycling would generate positive publicity for fraternities and sororities alike. Recently, fraternities and sororities have received some bad press in the newspapers for the actions of a few. Chi Omegas Mexican party was an embarrassment, as was Tri Deltas hazing; we need to pump some more positive spirit back into the Greek community. I do not wish to be looked down upon

because I am in a fraternity. I want to be seen as an exceptionally contributive member to society, not destructive. The positive attitude and practices of the community as a whole can counteract the negative persona and reflect the good we can accomplish. As society recycles more and more, our fraternities need to follow suit. Aluminum cans, the most egregious recyclable material that is thrown away, is almost exclusive to fraternities when compared to campus life and is our responsibility to properly recycle. Recycling is the most significant action fraternities can partake in to have a positive impact on the environment; the savings from recycling is larger than conserving water or conserving electricity. Every can recycled is one can less in a landfill and a new can on a store shelf. The IFC can help make this recycling revolution happen by encouraging fraternities to be more conscientious of their decision to throw away bottles and cans. One individual feels like he/she is helpless and powerless to make an impact by recycling; but the thousands of brothers and sisters that make up the Greek community as Penn State can unite and make a true difference. Sincerely, Brian Pugh

Works Cited "ACT 101." ACT 101. Department of Environmental Protection, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. "Aluminum Cans Recycling." Aluminum Cans Recycling. WasteCare Corporation, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. "Facts About Aluminum Recycling." Earth911. Earth911, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. "Recycling and Waste Management." Green. Penn State University, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.