E Proctors Raise Awareness About Recycling at Exeter
With Climate Action Day soon approaching, Exeter’s E-proctors, one of the most active environmental clubs on campus, posted recycling awareness posters in hopes of encouraging their fellow students to, in small but effective ways, help curb the climate crisis.
Though Exeter’s impact on the environment has gone down compared to prior years, the school’s waste output remains high. So far this year, Exonians have produced roughly 195 tons of trash waste, compared to the 232 tons produced throughout the whole 2017-18 school year. There are still six weeks until the end of the school year. The student body per capita output increased from four pounds per person last March to 5.2 pounds per person this March––a 30 percent increase. In terms of recycling, so far this year Exonians have recycled 72 tons of trash, compared to the 110 tons over the course of the whole 2017-18 school year.
In light of these statistics, the E-proctors have decided that the best route to decrease the Academy’s carbon footprint is to spread awareness.
As an E-proctor, lower Bea Burack highlighted the campaign’s role in a larger effort to promote environmental consciousness by first educating students about environmentally aware decisions. “I think there are a lot of people who recognize [environmental issues] as important issues,” said Burack. “But I see a pretty big disconnect between this awareness and actual action.”
The posters provide students with a visual reminder of what items can and cannot be recycled, with pictures of commonly used items sorted into recyclable and non-recyclable groups. Hanging above trash and recycling bins in dorms, the posters highlight the problem recycling plants face when non-recyclable materials end up in their processing facilities.
E-proctor and upper Alayna Thomas described Exonians’ general uncertainty when it came to determining if an item is recyclable or not. “Even though I was an E-proctor, I still wasn't quite sure what could be recycled, so that can make people hesitant,” Thomas said.
Such uncertainty leads to an overall hesitance in recycling at all. In the future, the E-proctors hope to organize a dorm waste competition to further encourage recycling.
For the past year, the club has made an effort to reorganize its structure. According to Thomas, this restructuring has been the principal reason behind why the initiative has taken so long to come out. “Our ideas for the initiative are ones that we have had in our minds for a while,” Thomas said. “As far as implementing them, the reason why we are going step-by-step is because we are trying to work with all of the E-proctors that have signed up for the club.”
Upper Erin Ahern is optimistic about the impact of this project if enough students take action. “I see a lot of people at Exeter who don’t recycle, so it could have a great impact on Exeter if people learn more about it,” Ahern said.
Despite this, some Exonians still feel that climate action on campus remains lackluster. Lower Erin McCann pointed to the lack of discussion as a source of inaction.“It is easy for people to forget that we are in the middle of a climate crisis, when we are privileged at Exeter to have clean water, clean air and are overall relatively unaffected by climate change that has very real and devastating effects on people around the world,” she said.
McCann emphasized she hopes for the administration to take a more active role in encouraging and practicing environmentalism on campus and providing an example to follow. McCann wished “this school was more transparent and conscious about how much [food and power] waste we produce.” Lower Bea Burack, meanwhile, commented, “I think that the administration could be doing a lot more to promote sustainability, such as selling sustainably made products in the bookstore and supporting composting in all dorms.”
Despite these initiatives, McCann noted the need to take action on a broader scale to initiate social change. “To some extent people are still unaware of the complexity and urgency of environmental issues, and they may oversimplify environmental issue to as simple as turning off you lights or taking shorter showers or recycling,” she said.