That month-long semester break was wonderful, wasn’t it? Everybody went home and got to relax, or else got to make money working for a few weeks. Anyway, it was good to be away from school for a month come back refreshed and ready to start anew.

But, wait a minute. Where did all this garbage come from?

Yes, we came back from semester break and found a heaping mound of recyclable materials at the doorstep of the Student Association Recycling Center.

Does this problem sound familiar? Well, it should. It seems to happen whenever NIU students leave their home away from home for a while. That’s not surprising, though. In fact, it’s a pretty logical observation, since the university’s recycling center relies quite heavily upon student volunteers.

The recycling center has always had a problem finding volunteers. Maybe there is a hint to be taken in that fact. Perhaps the recycling center should consider hiring one or two everyday workers.

Working at the Student Association Recycling Center isn’t the type of job which requires extreme amounts of experience. Accordingly, the recycling center could probably get away with paying workers the minimum wage or thereabouts.

This way, the center would have no more continual problems with garbage back-ups when student volunteers go home. Also, someone in DeKalb who probably needs it would have a job.