Editor, The Channels

When reading the article entitled “Recycling not worth it ” (April 18), we were in quite a shock. Throughout the column we found a latent ignorance on the topic. What exactly was the point of the article?

It seemed that the general theme was that recycling costs too much money. In response to those financial woes, BFI offers free recycling bins for both residential and commercial properties, and Marborg has similar free recycling programs for residences.

Ultimately, we as consumers could choose to buy products that are reusable. In the long run, it will cut down the amount of goods that need to be recycled, along with the costs.

Let’s look locally. At City College, due to the lack of use of ceramic plates, and the trend of finding these plates in the trash, they are reducing their availability, meaning the majority of what is being used are plastic to-go containers.

Global Awareness Week begins Monday and “Recycling Awareness in your Global and Local Community” will start off this event. We hope to creatively share the benefits of reducing and reusing rather than creating waste. We hope that one day people will see that recycling is a good solution to our current waste system.

But realistically, the only solution is to reduce our consumption and to use reusable products.

Know that waste removal programs are a privilege, and are not a human right. If anything it is a human burden.

-Vincent Van Haaf and Sarah Freeman, City College Students