Skeptical Sisson Environmentalists? Capitalists.

Author: Douglas Sisson

Middlebury College is a unique, environmentally conscious campus. The recycling bins furnished in every student's room have never failed to make the quintessential college punch bowl. What's more, on Monday, the royal blue plastic mold goes back to its daytime job in the form of a recycling bin used to take away the drained vodka handles and assortment of cheap beer cans consumed over the weekend.

Cleaning up beer cans after parties is what first triggered my interest and skepticism with regard to who benefits from students recycling on campus.

I find it unsettling that the College's already-inflated endowment receives five additional cents for each aluminum can Middlebury's recycling program receives. For those of you unfamiliar with Vermont's recycling policy, the state mandates a deposit on aluminum cans, certain types of plastics and glass bottles. Connoisseurs of boxed wine need not worry - the state of Vermont does not think any less of you, but do remember to recycle the cardboard.

For all the deposits I've paid on alcohol-related purchases over the last four years, I have never actually collected the refund. Middlebury's recycling program does an excellent job providing accessible recycling depots at the end of most residential hallways. When you think about it, why wouldn't the administration want to provide recycling bins easily accessible to the student body - regardless of whether vodka bottles are being recycled by first-year or super-senior students?

A case of 30 Bush Light beers costs the consumer around $12.99 plus a deposit of $1.50 taken at the register. Similarly, the cost of a Smirnoff vodka handle is $22.00 with an additional $2.00 deposit on the glass handle. After the alcohol is consumed and paid for, the empty containers can later be recycled via Middlebury's convenient capitalist-driven environmental initiative.

I'm somewhat skeptical of how a facet of Middlebury's administration, the recycling center, profits from the refund initially deposited by students. Aware of this, I can recall collecting cans and plastic bottles over the weekend separate from the large plastic containers provided by Middlebury's mandated recycling program. I would keep the bag of recyclable goods - whose contents guaranteed a financial refund if brought to one of the various off campus recycling centers - and, come Monday, I would present the bag of recyclable goods to the custodial staff on my floor. As a first-year living in Ross at the time, it always struck me as somewhat odd that Middlebury recycling is profiting from the recycled alcohol containers of first-years living in substance-free residence halls. Still, it is illegal for students under 21 years of age to consume alcohol, but those who do consume alcohol, effectively producing trash, are strongly encouraged to recycle on their hallways so that the refund can be claimed by the College.

I don't think it's entirely unrealistic to suggest that the environmental scene on campus is somewhat propagated towards administrative initiatives. Middlebury's zeal for capitalism and raising money never ceases to amaze me, and it makes me wonder if the recycling center is one more instance in which the College is acquiring more money from the students.

Perhaps I'm needlessly gnawing on a necessary and valuable component of our Middlebury education - exposure to green ideology. Still, it is important to be aware of certain trends - like the administration's need to validate its economic moral authority - in an effort to avoid capitalism's invisible hand from servicing itself in the dimly lit recycling depot at the end of most residential hallways.

Douglas Sisson '07.5 is from Oak Brook, Ill.