Countless beverage containers are thrown into garbage cans each day. For every 26 California Redemption containers collected and submitted to the Recycling Center at Cal State Long Beach, 95 cents is refunded to donors.
Money for waste is a new initiative to recycling that is offered to students and the community through the state's redemption buy- back service, whereby used materials are recovered from the waste stream, broken down and created into new products.
From glass bottles and tin cans to plastic containers, the center will refund taxes paid to beverage companies, plus an additional "scrap" value fee, said Henry Gabriel, the center's student manager.
"To be more involved in the community, clubs and organizations, the Recycling Center will offer money for materials brought to the center as a form of fundraiser," Gabriel said.
Gabriel said that landfill availability is depleting rapidly. Material handed out by the center states that 44 million tons of solid waste in California alone is buried in landfills each year. Gabriel said the need for students to recycle would lesson the waste stream and create a longer life span for landfills.
"Garbage is a problem," Gabriel said. "The public has to realize that there's just no more space [left]. You just can't dig up a hole and say it's a landfill."
Associated Students President Susie Aramesh said that recycling is going to be the "lifestyle" of the future.
"Recycling is very important to students because it is a wonderful way to dispose of the things they have, rather than just throwing them away," Aramesh said. "You learn a little bit of responsibility and you feel like you're contributing."
Offering a variety of services to students and communities, the center is a non-profit organization that has served the Long Beach community since 1970.
The donation, drop-off center, open 77 hours a week to students and the community, provides tours and repository for all kinds of recyclable goods.
The off-campus recycling center provides service to businesses in the community that generate large amounts of high-grade paper. The on-campus, drop-off site gives students and faculty a place to donate office paper or student-oriented newspapers and beverage containers.
Striving to create public awareness about recycling and to conserve the natural environment, the center accepts a variety of materials other than state-redemption beverage containers both on and off campus.
Materials include glass bottles and jars, separated by color with lids removed; newspapers, loosened with no bags or glossy paper; white or colored ledger paper; mixed papers, such as magazines and cereal boxes; aluminum, tin and scrap metal; cardboard; brown bags; and plastic.
Gabriel said that there is personal satisfaction in recycling materials.
"You'll be amazed at how much you can preserve, instead of just throwing them away," Gabriel said. "The more you get involved, the more you start [recycling], you feel better about what you have done environmentally."