The Tiger

Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: News

Over the past two years, Clemson University and the city of Clemson have embarked on a mission to improve their environmental impacts and to keep the campus clean.
The Solid Green Campaign at Clemson has been working to make these efforts noticeable while showing the University and city that being environmentally responsible requires a group effort. Hosting events such as litter pickup days and educational seminars help get the word out about the campaign's goal of making Clemson an environmentally friendly community.
Around campus, stickers on light switches can be seen reminding Clemson students to turn off lights to save energy when they are not in use.
Recycling efforts around Clemson can be seen in nearly every building on campus for paper, aluminum cans and plastics.
Students around campus are enthusiastic about the effort. Sophomore Jennifer McAmis said she approves of the initiative to "go green."
"I think [Clemson University and the City of Clemson] are doing a great thing through giving students a place to take leadership in environmental efforts on campus and making it easy for all students to get involved in making our campus a cleaner place," said McAmis.
While the markets for aluminum and plastics can lead to some return of the associated expenses in recycling, paper presents a much different recycling problem.
Nationally, on average, it costs approximately 30 to 50 percent more to recycle paper than it would to discard and landfill the same amount.
In addition, recent studies performed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have found paper recycling to produce more environmentally damaging chemicals than placing the paper in a landfill to decompose.
Dr. Daniel K. Benjamin, a senior fellow of PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center, and a professor of economics at Clemson University provides insight on the issues associated with recycling paper.
One item Benjamin brings to light is the fact that paper recycling isn't necessarily saving trees.
"From an environmental standpoint, typically paper recycling is a wash compared to using virgin pulp … I don't know of anybody who has established that there is a net environmental benefit," he said.
"Making paper from existing paper is a manufacturing process, just like making paper from virgin pulp is a manufacturing process," said Benjamin.
"With both of them you use resources, some are environmental some are non-environmental. In the United States, virtually all virgin pulp comes from trees specifically grown to be made into paper."
Benjamin compares paper recycling to growing other resources.
"Saving trees by recycling paper is likely to make as much sense as saving wheat by not eating Wheaties," he said. "All that will happen is that people will grow less wheat."

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