COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS : School to Start Recycling Program

A committee at College of the Canyons plans to have an on-campus recycling program in full swing by the fall semester.

Initially, receptacles to collect paper and aluminum will be placed in strategic locations on campus, said recycling committee member Cathie Pitts.

“We’ll start with those two and see how it goes,” Pitts said. “If it works with aluminum and paper, then we might expand it to incorporate other materials like glass and plastic.”

Pitts, also the college’s assistant public information officer, has been researching and compiling information from companies that would pick up the materials and pay the college for them.

However, she noted: “Money is not the issue. The concern is for the environment and not wasting natural resources.”

Pitts, who described herself as an avid recycler, encouraged the campus program. “This is something very simple that everyone can do,” she said.

Any profits from the sale of campus trash will go back into the recycling program, said committee chairman Gary Peterson.

The program is expected to begin in time for summer school next month. However, Peterson said: “There’ll be a campaign at the start of next semester to make everyone aware of the program. We want to have the whole program in effect when the students start in the fall.”

The college’s biology club and student government have been involved in recycling paper and aluminum for the last few years.

Jodi Grass, student government leader, said the campuswide effort is much needed.

“We would just be doing our responsibility. I’m pretty sure we are one of the only colleges that doesn’t have a recycling program,” she said.