The Environmental Forum of Georgia Tech is a student organization working on recycling efforts. The forum collects cans and bottles for recycling each week at a small area behind the Student Center, but hopes to gain a larger, permanent location to expand its campus efforts. Although the amount of material recycled has been relatively small, forum member Steve Donkin believes the effort has raised campus awareness of environmental issues. People are initiating their own recycling, starting it in their halls of the dorms. Though most recycling focuses on cans, bottles and certain papers, virtually all materials can be recycled if the market is there, explains Andrea Sussman, communications director for the non-profit National Recycling Coalition.
Most plastics are recyclable, but few communities now have plastic-recycling programs.
The varied demand for recyclable materials means recycling programs vary significantly from one region to another. If materials must be transported great distances to a recycling plant, those transportation costs may make recycling uneconomical, Sussman notes. Media attention focused on Earth Day, clogged landfills, and other environmental questions have changed public opinion on recycling, leading many communities to initiate programs. The most successful, she says, are those which pick up recyclables at the curbside. Recycling isn't complete until we close the loop.