Recycling At Regionals (bottles, cans, paper)

[RobotsVsKittens]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to these forums. I've volunteered at a few regionals, this year, SBPLI, for the 2nd time, and Philadelphia last year. I am curious if other regionals have bins for recycling paper or plastic/glass/metal beverage containers. SBPLI did not, but I forget if Philadelphia did.

I know it is often the fault of the facility not having them coupled with the problem of people using them for general trash. I worked at pit admin this year and was disturbed by the amount of paper and plastic we could not recycle. I think next year I will bring a bin for the plastic and paper, if I work at pit admin. At SBPLI, one of the sponsors of the event is even a recycling company. I'm sure that the main reason is that the venue does not recycle. But that should be no reason to stop us. I got to know some of the people who organize the SBPLI event so perhaps next year we can do it.

Anyone have thoughts about this, have tried this before or something?

[codeoftherobot]

Davis works to be a very green campus and had multiple permanent recycling bins in the arena and surrounding campus. They were emptied on a regular basis so I saw no overflow whatsoever.

[coastertux]

I don't remember seeing any recycling bins at Annapolis last year, I will check at Philly over the weekend. I think recycling is very important and will directly impact our future. I do not believe this is FIRST's fault however, because it is probably because the venue does not recycle. Once reason they may not provide receptacles for recycling is because they then have to sort through them and remove any trash (people DO put trash in recycling bins).

[artdutra04]

In much of the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, there are 5¢ deposit returns on beverage containers. By providing a can/bottle recycle bin right next to the garbage cans, most people will throw their cans there, and then these can be recycled for money. With the amount of beverages consumed at a FIRST Regional, making several hundred bucks from returning the empty cans and bottles would not be an unreasonable guestimate.

I cannot really see any reasons why people wouldn't want to have recycle bins around. If there are recycle bin(s) right next to a garbage can, how hard is it to through your can/bottle or used paperwork in the appropiate bin? It's not hard, and at the same time you're making a positive impact on our environment.

(And yes, I've gotten so used to recycle bins that I whenever I go to throw out certain products I will always go and see if there is a recycle bin around first.)