Campus recycling staff at New Mexico State University requested recommendations for locations of additional bins. The author seized the opportunity to answer this inherently geographic question by designing a senior-graduate level special topics course. Students who enrolled designed a mapping activity for freshman students which would introduce them to geographic data collection and analysis. Students mapped bins on paper campus maps and with GPS units. Researchers produced a population density surface and created a surface of linear distance to a recycling bin, and a locational-ranking surface that identified areas that would benefit from new/additional recycle bins. A total of 192 outdoor trash bins and 17 outdoor recycle bins were identified. Results identified eight locations for addition of new bins. Recommendations based on this experience include a broad approach to recycling and geographic education that emphasizes sustainability and the importance of the reduce, reuse, recycle, the 3 R's.
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