Design in Society: Recycling Bins

                There are many things that get designed into society, billboards, clothes, sculptures, houses, laptops, musical instruments, and everything else out there. Most times, people don’t realize that a group of people had to go through a design process to create that object, whatever it may be. Some designs are useful, others useless. Recycling bins are one of those useful designs that many people tend to overlook.

                Think back to the time when recycling bins didn’t exist. How is life different?  Recycling bins allow us to use our resources intelligently, reusing whatever materials we can, and disposing of the materials we can no longer use again.  With recycling bins, the three R’s are reinforce: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.  Anyone can be asked to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  But truthfully, not many people will take the extra time to initiate a recycling system into their daily routine.

With the advent of recycling bins, taking the extra step to help the environment just got easier.  The smallest contribution in helping save the environment can go a long way. Recycling The Aggie every day or just turning off the faucet as one brushs one’s teeth can be more helpful than one can imagine.

At UC Davis, there are recycling bins all over campus. Better yet, there are actually two types of recycling bins scattered around the campus: one for bottles and another for paper. Both are recyclable materials. Having two separate bins further encourages people to differentiate between the two and recycle even more.

                Visually, recycling bins make the streets prettier. If recycling bins didn’t exist, papers and bottles would go into the same bin as trash and garbage. That would cause those bins to fill up much faster. Once those bins start to overfill, the things inside the bin might start falling out, becoming litter on the floor.