A couple of Saturdays ago, I had the extraordinary pleasure of attending Kenyon’s Involvement Fair. After writing my name and email down on dozens of dis-list papers, I concluded my visit by going to a trash bin to throw away a popsicle stick. The lid of the bin had three distinctly colored holes denoting different forms of waste — y’know, as a means of helping sustain our environment by filtering out paper from plastics and all of that lovely business. But upon further inspection, I noticed that this lid was a ruse — a con, a deceitful illusion, a sinister trick of enormous proportions — for underneath this eco-friendly lid were not three separate containers of waste, but one big, all-encompassing bag of trash, filtering nothing and consuming all. This discovery sparked a fury that burned so deeply in my soul that I determined there was no better option than to write this article. I, Tommy Sinclair, believe that Kenyon is lying about their pursuit of greater environmental initiatives and needs to do a better job of practicing the values that it preaches. 

In case you folks aren’t yet aware, Kenyon’s website contains an official sustainability statement that asserts its mission of environmental stewardship. Calling on all members of our community to follow suit, Kenyon affirms that “all College decisions will be informed by their climate impact, guided by the current scientific consensus.” After some investigation, I have found several violations of this statement lurking within the school’s infrastructure. First and foremost is our apparent lack of access to recycling. There are plenty of trash cans sprinkled around campus, but far too infrequently are they accompanied by a recycling bin. It seems ridiculous to me that our school can afford to build state-of-the-art dormitories, commission mediocre one-hit wonder pop artists to perform at Sendoff for thousands of dollars and returf the football field just for our team to go 2-8, but can’t set aside any funds for receptacles of reusable plastic. 

Additionally, residents of various apartments around campus (including me) are provided with separately colored bins for different kinds of waste in their rooms, but when they take out this assorted trash, their only disposal options are a larger bin for trash and a tucked-away dumpster for cardboard. So what’s the point of the different bins in my room? It’s all going to the same place! It seems like the school is merely giving students the illusion that we are recycling. To give the school credit, many of the academic buildings are provided with recycling bins. But there is a severe lack of residential recycling, and I couldn’t find a single recycling bin outdoors. It is certainly still possible for students to recycle here, but the lack of visible options makes it far more likely that students will turn to trash before seeking better options. That isn’t to say that our student body shouldn’t be doing a better job of recycling and keeping our campus clean. It is up to us to make conscious choices to help protect our environment. Regardless, it’s up to the school to implement the proper infrastructure to help us do so.

Am I being a bit nitpicky right now? Yes. Am I wrong? No. I agree with all of you who may argue that these improvements may not make much of a difference, as our nation’s recycling system is broken regardless of Kenyon’s actions (or lack thereof). I also hear those of you who say that our school’s waste output is minuscule compared to that of the giant corporations destroying our world, so this ultimately isn’t that big of a deal. But I’m more concerned about precedent. Kenyon is a prestigious liberal arts college designed to instruct us students how to think critically and apply our knowledge to make the world a better place. Kenyon should serve as a role model for peer institutions, community members and students alike to look up to and take inspiration from. There may be bigger fish to fry, but every little guppy counts.

The school’s sustainability statement says this regarding campus culture: “[W]e commit to reducing our environmental impact by prioritizing ecologically conscious and socially equitable decisions, engaging in learning and critical conversations and holding each other accountable.” (emphasis mine). Well, Kenyon, here I am holding you accountable. How can this school expect to teach us the value of protecting our environment without practicing what it preaches? These policy discrepancies come off to me as incredibly insincere and feel like a slap in the face to our environmental studies department. Would fixing Kenyon’s recycling system save the environment? No, but this school has principles that it needs to hold itself to. I have no idea how Kenyon expects to become a carbon-neutral campus by 2040 if it can’t even commit to recycling properly. Step up, Kenyon!

Tommy Sinclair ’26 is an English major and Spanish minor from Columbus, OH. He can be reached at sinclair2@kenyon.edu.