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It takes two employees all day just to service Mars Hill College’s mixed paper recycling program. That is an eight-hour job for those workers every other week. According to county officials, that’s a big commitment. The workers have to account for 37 bins. Their job is to unload each and take the paper to the Madison County Sanitary Landfill. Last year that meant that 42 tons of mixed paper were collected, sorted, and put on the market for recycling. Garbage at the college equaled 179 tons. Amanda Cutshaw, recycling education coordinator for Madison County, is responsible for the five full-time employees dedicated to recycling for the county. The landfill does not deal with garbage anymore, ironically, because it was filled to capacity several years ago. “They only use the landfill facilities for recycling now,” Cutshaw said. Cutshaw has no background in recycling. Basically, she was just put into the position as recycling developed. “No one here has made a career out of recycling,” Cutshaw said. She gives presentations to groups about the Madison County Landfill and about recycling. In February, she gave a presentation to The Hilltop staff and to the administration of Mars Hill College. She wants to educate people about recycling. For instance, she wants to lower the amount of waste in landfills, create green jobs, bring revenue into the county, save taxpayer money, and save the environment. The county sells the paper that MHC recycles, making money from the sale of the waste. It cost a lot less to recycle something than it does to process garbage, she said. Cutshaw said there are several ways to strengthen the recycling program on campus. She said the school must make it convenient to recycle, such as putting more recycling bins on campus. The school must flood the campus with information, such as letting everybody know through many different ways. The school must have a mix of both students and staff heading the effort, which means both parties should be involved. And, she said, the school must be consistent. Give us your feedback. We value your opinions. Write us at hilltop@mhc.edu. Be sure to include your full name and the story you reference. See our letters policy. The Hilltop reserves the right not to post anonymous comments, personal attacks, or any comments that could be judged slanderous, that make unverifiable allegations of fact, or use language we consider in bad taste. | HOME | ARCHIVE | OPINIONS | EMAIL US |
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