GROSSMONT COLLEGE —  an Earth Day event  was brought to the student body by the Forgiven Christian Club and the recycling department on Tuesday, April 24.  If you had the opportunity to take a few moments and stop by the quad then you would have seen a video about a female snapping turtle named Mae West.

This turtle got stuck in a milk jug ring as a hatchling. Throughout the years her body grew around the ring. Sadly her backbone was not able to form properly so she is now unable to survive in the outside world. The video also showed many other horrendous effects that trash has on all of the sea life.

A lot of information was laid out on the tables for anyone to grab and learn about the schools recycling program as well as California recycling. All schools are required to recycle at least 50% of waste each year.

Grossmont has a recycling program that is managed and coordinated by Walter Sachau, who has worked on the campus for 19 years. One of the main problems the recycling program is coming up against is the high theft of all the school’s recyclables. Due to this problem Grossmont College recycling program is struggling to meet the its quota of recycling mandated by the state.

What does the recycling program do? Once the school is reimbursed for all the recycling it has done, the program uses that money to purchase things that everyone on campus uses such as tables, and the umbrellas for the tables.

What can the students of Grossmont do to help? To begin with, after you’ve eaten on campus,  recycle everything that you can. Be conscious of which cans you place your waste in. Use as little paper as possible, and if you do need to throw it out make sure you put that paper in the recycling cans available all over campus and in the Tech Mall. In essence, be conscious of what you are throwing away, and where you throw it.

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Sanders is commentary editor of GC Summit.  She may be contacted at [email protected]