Our aim is to help Oberlin College lessen its ecological footprint, or the amount of harm it does to the earth.

• Contrary to belief and practice at many institutions, environmentalism does not have to conflict with running an instituition efficiently. Recycling and source reduction are two ways to reduce our environmental impact.
• Recycling is the process of taking the materials and products we use up in our daily life and making them back into useful things.
• Source reduction is almost the opposite: trying to use fewer resources by doing things like buying environmentally friendly products, buying fewer products, eating whole foods, and being conscious of water and energy use.

Although recycling is very important, it is not enough. Not only are many things not recyclable, but the production processes themselves use energy and create waste byproducts.

We hope to make both source reduction and recycling part of daily life at Oberlin, and maybe help to educate people outside of Oberlin as well.

• The earth is being damaged on a daily basis by human lifestyle choices, especially by those of us in Western industrialized countries.
• It remains to be seen whether this damage can be reversed, but it is our responsibility to do what we can to tread lightly on the earth.
• Waste reduction and conservation of resources have benefits that reach beyond the strictly ecological into areas such as economics, human rights, politics, and ethics: areas that affect our daily life as much as the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink.

Therefore, we want the students and staff at Oberlin to be conscious of the resources we use and the waste we create. Our job involves logistical issues such as the placement of recycling bins and filling out of paperwork, but above all we try to focus on education, because we believe that the more people learn about their interactions with their surroundings, the more able and empowered they will be to make responsible decisions. We hope that by providing a user friendly recycling program and making resources available for participation in ecological initiatives like source reduction, we can help caring for the earth become a part of your daily life.

Above all, recycling is about creativity and consciousness: being aware of the way you live and the materials you use, and imagining ways that those materials can be used once they have fulfilled the purpose for which they were created. Source reduction is about using only what you really need, and doing your best to make sure that the things you use don't cause harm to the earth.

Please let us know of any suggestions or feedback you have about the information we present in this website.

If you have any questions about the Recycling Program or comments about  our web pages, email us at: recycle@oberlin.edu

This page was last updated in January 2001