Solid waste reduction needed
Starting in early 1994, I worked for my first-ever newspaper, The Northern Student, the student newspaper at Bemidji State University, where I attended and received my bachelor's degree in mass communication. Over three years, I would be a staff writer, news editor, managing editor and editor. I wrote everything from news stories to feature stories to sports stories to opinion pieces. It was the greatest training ground a journalist could ever have, and I am grateful to the many talented people I worked alongside in my years at The NS.
Sept. 25, 1996
By Devlyn Brooks
According to Ed Belanger, a BSU environmental studies graduate student and a Beltrami County solid waste technician, BSU is the largest producer of waste in the county, and he would like to see a reduction in the amount of waste BSU produces.
Belanger asked the Student Senate at their Sept. 16 meeting to create a committee that could study the amount of solid waste produced by BSU and how to reduce it in the future.
"BSU produces 498.06 tons (of waste) a year," he said. "That is more than double what the second largest waste producer produces."
Waste awareness is becoming a large problem not only at BSU, Belanger said, but for the country as a whole. It costs about $100 to haul a ton of garbage when factoring in extra costs such as the wear and tear on the state's infrastructure, and the amount is only increasing.
The biggest waste on campus is food scraps, and second is paper waste, he said. However, there are some simple steps that could be taken to eliminate some of the waste. Signs in Walnut Hall and in the Lakeside Food Court, stating to take only the amount of food you can eat, may remind people to cut down on food waste, he said.
A more intriguing solution being discussed, Belanger said, is to give the food scraps to area hog farmers who could use the scraps as feed.
"The idea is to turn old food into new food," he said. "It's not true reduction, but it will reduce the college's waste immensely. We still need to stress the idea that if you don't need to use it, don't use it; every time I walk through Walnut Hall, the garbage cans are full of food."
The other major waste problem -- paper -- can also be reduced, he said. For instance, in the computer labs, he said he has walked by garbage cans filled with paper, while the paper recycling bins are only a few feet away. And even something as simple as producing copies on two sides of a piece of paper would help eliminate waste.
"The paper costs the college money; plus, it costs the county money to get rid of it," he said. "I see a number of ways BSU's waste can be reduced. The waste doesn't produce itself; each and every one of you produce it, including me."
Belanger suggested the Senate look into two college solid waste reduction programs he found on the internet. One example is a program being practiced by Humboldt State University in California, which he said BSU could probably adopt easily.
BSU does not currently have an official waste reduction and recycling program, but Richard Marsolek, coordinator of BSU's Environmental Health and Safety Office, said he is developing some recommendations that will later be forwarded to BUS President Jim Bensen.
"We are definitely working on a paper reduction policy," Marsolek said. "I hope to see it supported as a university policy."
Senate President Eric Poehler said, in an interview, the solid waste reduction committee is a good idea that probably is worth pursuing, but the problem is there are a number of other good projects suffering because of a lack of volunteers. If there were someone to lead such a committee, he said, the Senate would fully support it.
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