Have you ever looked at your surroundings at an on-campus frat party? The brown tinted frat sludge on the floor, the latest song blaring from the multiple speakers, and a crowded, sweaty dance floor are several of the things that I have noticed. However, the one image that has remained with me the most is the extreme amount of Red Solo cups sporadically laying on the floor.
The "Red Solo cup" phenomenon has crossed the nation as one of the most recognizable party paraphernalia of all time, particularly in college social life. Rather than a standard beer can, most fraternities prefer to purchase these cups, produced by Solo Cup Company, in bulk to satisfy the drinking needs of party-goers.
As I sat and watched drinking games played before me, I could not help but notice the increasing numbers of Red Solo cups thrown to the ground after minor usage, never to be used again.
The well-known drinking game, Relay, incorporates three different games into one, including beer pong, flip cup, and slap cup. While the game is competitive and entertaining, it also uses upwards of 60 cups per game. For approximately every six cups used in Relay, a single can of beer is used. This means that the lifespan of most Red Solo cups at a party involves not getting dirty or fully used.
So why does this matter?
According to a report by the the Duke Office for Sustainability and Commerce, each individual generates 4.3 pounds of waste per day, which eventually ends up in one of the 3,500 landfills in the country. The cost to manage all of the garbage exceeds $100 billion annually. Of all the garbage disposed by Americans, approximately half of this trash can be recycled into other materials.
Materials such as aluminum, plastic, and glass are very beneficial to the environment when recycled. More specifically, these materials save significant amounts of oil, which is a dwindling resource today. In other words, choosing to recycle the aluminum in your garbage can would contribute to saving upwards of 1,660 gallons of oil.
All Solo cup products have the Resin Identification Code (RIC) of a six.
As stated by the Plastic Industry Trade Association, the RIC system, introduced in 1988, is “used solely to identify the plastic resin used in a manufactured article.”
Products containing an RIC of six can be recycled into a multitude of products including cameras, foamed foodservice applications, and license plate frames.
Although these are all small items, choosing to recycle Solo cups sets an important precedent for fraternities across the nation. It may not change the rates of global warming, the rise in water levels, or the air pollution, but it starts a positive reach toward a greener future.
