Recycling old issues

Recently, IU received a D-plus on its environmental sustainability report card, and many weren't too impressed with its efforts to improve. \nBut the University isn't the only one sending us headlong into a Kevin Costner movie. You are, too. Yeah -- you, in the back. The one who is too lazy to tell the difference between a residence hall recycling bin and a urinal. You're the reason this town dumps tons (literally) of recyclable garbage into private landfills every day. \nHere's a quick rundown on Bloomington's waste management. Excited?\nIf you live in a single-family home, the city's sanitation department will come by and pick up your trash every week. Every other week, it comes for the recycling.\nBut if you live in an apartment complex with more than four units, there is just no time for you. The city doesn't have the manpower to handle all that. That's why there are waste management companies that enter into contracts with landlords to pick up their trash and, if they want, their recycling too.\nThe bad news: Many apartment complexes only order trash pick-up, not recycling. One such apartment complex is the Varsity Villas, where David Kerber is the manager. Kerber said the Villas used to offer recycling -- until lazy tenants found it too inconvenient to separate their empty beer cans from their leftover Easy Mac.\n"It's tough enough to get people to take their trash to the actual Dumpster," he said. "The mindset today is 'If it incoveniences me, then I'm not going to do it.'"\nBesides laziness, a myriad of other afflictions cause students to misuse recycling facilities. For example, a person may suffer from "various reasons of intoxication" or simply be unfamiliar with the recycling habits of a particular location, Kerber said.\n"Also, people who don't live here come to visit," Kerber said. "They see a hole, they don't stop to read and they just clean their car out and drop it all in there."\nI know what you're thinking: "Shut up, Captain Planet. I have two tests this week and plenty of bigger problems than separating bottles from cans." But I'm not some neo-hippy trying to convince you to marry a tree (actually, I've hated trees ever since one smashed my car). \nI hate to break it to you, but many in this community perceive students as lazy, irresponsible and negative impacts on the city. Of course, they are wrong for many, many reasons I won't go in to. But this problem is one reason they are right. An indolent, self-centered attitude scores us no points with the surrounding community. Besides, it's just wasteful.\n"The way people are today, it's 'me, me, me,' not 'What can I do to help out?'" Kerber said. "Until people have the education or the responsibility to (recycle), it's something that's very difficult. In the end, it comes down to whether they are going to have the discipline to do it"