By M’Alyssa Bundy
Walking to class, it’s pretty obvious to see that a problem exists concerning litter around campus. The trashcans are, more often than not, overflowing and trash falls out or kit foxes and squirrels sneak some off.
Do not rely on someone else to pick it up; it is a group effort. And to help with this effort, we have Campus Cleanups.
Stephanie Aranda, a 21 year old senior majoring in environmental resource management says, “I’ve been volunteering for Campus Cleanup through my club, The Occupational Safety and Health Club, and there’s a Campus Cleanup every fourth Monday of the month.”
Students are encouraged to participate in this cleanup and to help the cause other days as well. Instead of being picked up once a month by volunteers, it would be much easier for every student to do their part and pick up their own garbage daily. And even if students want to help out in summer, Aranda said it’s possible: “CSUB does them year-round.”
If you want to join a cleanup, “all you have to do is show up in front of the Student Union at 12 p.m. and sign in. They’ll give you gloves, trash bags, and those sticks with the clamps on the end to pick up trash with,” said Aranda. “[The cleanups] start at 12 and I believe can go until 2 p.m. If you can’t stay the whole time it’s totally fine. Cleaning up for even half an hour still makes a big difference, and you can leave whenever you need to.”
But what of the recyclables? “I just threw my filled trash bag into a dumpster on campus after the event. As I went along, if I found a bottle or can that was empty, I’d put it in a normal recycling can.”
The latter is something that is consistently ignored. Around campus, there are often recyclables visible in almost every trashcan. There are barely any of these trashcans that aren’t immediately next to a paired recycle bin.
All a student needs to prevent this is the ability to read the word recycling or to recognize the recyclable symbol that is on every can.
Because of the wildlife that exists alongside the students on campus, this garbage or recyclable material presents a real threat to animals such as the California kit fox.
These animals are drawn to the smells of food or trash, and if even the materials used in campus cleanups are not dealt with properly, kit foxes instinctually bring them back to their dens and can possibly choke on them.
Even outside the Modular East building where The Runner is produced, garbage accumulates and is constantly and consistently dug through by kit foxes.
So if you’re interested in keeping your campus clean, mark down the  23rd of February, and grab a trash bag.