Recycling program grinds to a halt

With the economical status in the hole today, many Americans are beginning to feel the economic decline. More recently, this has begun to affect the Seton Hill University (SHU) community. During the winter break, Westmoreland Cleanways notified SHU that the recycling project was being temporary suspended.

By India Lindsey

Business/Ad Manager

With the economical status in the hole today, many Americans are beginning to feel the economic decline. More recently, this has begun to affect the Seton Hill University (SHU) community. During the winter break, Westmoreland Cleanways notified SHU that the recycling project was being temporary suspended.

The Green Commitment is a club that has taken the responsibility of collecting recycling. “When I heard that recycling was being suspended, I was disappointed. It was becoming a big thing and we had received a lot of good feedback,” said Jenel Murray, a junior.
According to Cindy Boland, advisor to the Green Commitment club, SHU had teamed up with Westmoreland Cleanways, who does waste management and collects recycling to take to Pittsburgh for a company called Greenstar to recycle. SHU saw this opportunity as a convenient way of helping the environment while saving money also.

During its economic downturn, Greenstar had to find ways to save. SHU, being one of the newer partners, was first to be discontinued. Wendy Scott, a freshman and a member of the Green Commitment club, said, “Recycling is very important to me mainly because it helps saves animal’s lives such as polar bears that are being killed unnecessarily. I believe if we all committed ourselves to slowly changing our habits day by day, we could have a better environment in the long run.”

Boland said, “We were a group of interested students and custodians interested in collecting recycling. Our main purpose was to help make people more conscious about our environment.”

So what will happen to the Green Commitment club without the recycling project? Some easy ways to reduce waste are writing on both side of paper while note taking, turning off lights when exiting a room, taking shorter showers, using recycled paper or recycling at home. The suspension is only temporary and if the economic climate begins to rise, SHU can possibly reconnect with this company. Until then, Boland wants everyone to do their share in being environmentally conscious.