At the center of Northwestern’s Earth Day activities today is a giant landfill.
A coalition of campus environmental groups will build “Mt. Trashmore,” a pile of garbage representing six hours worth of trash generated at Northwestern, in front of Lunt Hall.
“We thought if we had a really visible display of how much garbage that we actually use during a given week, it would be a really powerful symbol that maybe would change people’s behaviors,” said SESP junior Sam Schiller, co-chairman of Environmental Campus Outreach.
Mt. Trashmore is a collaborative effort involving Student Affairs, Northwestern Facilities Management, Students for Ecological and Environmental Development, Engineers for a Sustainable World and ECO. The landfill is expected to be about eight feet high and about 14 feet in diameter, said Virginia Palmer, a member of ESW.
“It’s not going to be all completely trash because that would be a lot of trash to have to deal with,” the McCormick junior said. “There’s a structure underneath … and then we’re going to have the trash on top.”
The structure will be built between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The building materials will then be dismantled and returned to the university to reuse, so that no new trash will be created, she said.
Palmer came up with the idea for Mt. Trashmore while brainstorming for a class, and was inspired by similar events held at Harvard University. Palmer said Julie Cahillane, NU’s manager of refuse and recycling, told her NU produces about 11 tons of trash each day.
“We were trying to think of ways to make Northwestern more sustainable,” Palmer said. “I thought it would be good to show just how much waste we generate. Even if you have recycling, you still make so much waste anyway.”
Along with the pile of trash, organizers will host a booth for electronic recycling and give away canvas tote bags and thermal mugs, said Laura Christian, a member of SEED.
“Students can bring used electronics like cell phones, iPods, computers and laptops to Mt. Trashmore, then we’ll dispose of them properly,” the Weinberg junior said.
Usable electronics will be donated to underprivileged areas. Otherwise, the machines will be recycled for parts, Palmer said.
Sports Pavilion and Aquatics Center will sponsor an athletic shoe collection at the pile. Shoes get turned into padding for playgrounds in underprivileged areas, Palmer said. Norris Bookstore will also contribute with a sale of “green” books.
The Evanston Ecology Center and the Illinois Student Environmental Coalition will have information booths at the event, and the Jewish Theatre Ensemble will perform “The Lorax,” Dr. Seuss’s ecologically-conscious story, at 1:15 p.m., Schiller said.
“This is the first time that all the environmental groups on campus and the administration has really been on board (with) one unifying program,” he said. “For Earth Day this year, we wanted to make the use of trash a big theme to change people’s perspectives on what happens when they throw things away.”
Schiller said he hopes the project will have a lasting impact on students.
“Individual behaviors, when they’re multiplied over a whole campus, turn into something really big,” he said. “If we change our behaviors on a smaller level, we’re able to make an equally big impact.”
