Trash piles send Earth Week message

APPLETON - Trash is piling up in the middle of campus at Lawrence University in Appleton, but it's there for a reason.

It's part of Earth Week, to get students thinking about trash and recycling.

It is hard to miss, while walking through campus at Lawrence University.

"This is Mount Trashmore," said Andrew Knudsen, Assistant Professor of Geology while pointing to the piles of trash on the campus lawn.

The two piles of garbage are each more than 5-feet tall and 10-feet wide.

One dubbed Mount Trashmore, the other is called Recycle More Hill.

"It's the waste that's created on campus in a given day," Knudsen.

The day long display is getting attention of students.

"It's pretty disgusting how much more we throw out than we recycle," said Tara Carmody, Lawrence University Senior.

The project is part of an environmental initiative from the campus called Green Roots. Knudsen is helping run the project.

"The point is just to try to get us aware of how much garbage we are creating," said Knudsen who adds that food scraps are not in the piles.

Lawrence University sends hundreds of tons of garbage to landfills each year.

"Things that go to the landfill will go into it forever," said Phil Stecker, Outagamie County Solid Waste Director.

Stecker said 150,000 tons of trash gets processed at the county every year. However, he said the amount of trash can be reduced through recycling.

"If people will actually separate their recyclables and send them to us, we will process them and sell them," said Stecker.

Back at Lawrence University, students said they'll think of these piles of bags long after they've been cleaned up.

"I've gotten a lot better, especially this year as far as separating all my recyclables, paper and plastic, but this reminds me that I can do a little better," said Andre Juan, a Junior at Lawrence University.