Silliman aims to be a ‘zero waste’ university

SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY, well known for its environmental and marine sciences initiatives, has launched a campaign to curb and more strictly regulate garbage as it aims to become a “zero waste” campus and model for waste management. In a news post on its official website, Silliman said the program, introduced during the All-University Academic Convocation held June 25, will be rolled out this year. Among the initial measures that will be undertaken is a research on the impact of plastics to the environment and a call for everyone to stop using plastic water bottles, straws, and plastic bags. Visiting scholar and Silliman adjunct professor Dr. Jorge Augustin Emmanuel, in a lecture on The Global Crisis of Plastic Pollution during the event, said, “Today, we are producing about 400 million tons of plastics a day — much more than what was being produced 50 years ago. This means that the waste that we are producing today 50 years from now will be affecting our great, great, great grandchildren. They will be eating this in their food and water and will be breathing it in their air at even larger concentrations than we do.” Dr. Betty Cernol-McCann, university president, said in her message, “What has the advocacy for breaking free with plastics got to do with all of us?… Everything. This is happening. It is largely because of us, and it is getting worst. At this point, we are into damage control but our damage control will only be as strong as the weakest link in our University.” Ms. McCann said they are set “to bring about changes in the way we deal with plastics and other wastes that we now use and dispose in our campus.”