Is "Going Greek" Going Green?

With over 20 fraternity and sorority houses on the campus of the University of Mississippi, and thousands of students frequenting them daily, they supply a great place for helping the "green" initiative. Helping the environment is a very popular topic in the world today, and at the University of Mississippi is no exception. Yes, we have seen the recycling bins in he Grove, and the messages on television to be aware, but is it enough? With mostly all of Greek houses supplying 3 meals a day it is a great place for recycling trash. But according to Mary Garrett, the house director of Sigma Chi, when it comes to recycling prices can get in the way. With the price of Styrofoam cups being 3 cents a cup and the price of a biodegradable cup being 12 cents a cup, costs out way the option of using more environmentally friendly alternatives. Garrett also expressed the need for a more organized recycling pick up supplied by the university. There is a similar sentiment at the Phi Delta Theta house where senior accounting major Casey Dietz stated, “Although we try to as much as we can, we don’t always have the resources to really put a dent in our bad waste output.” However, he did mention that their house has been trying to switch more energy efficient lighting throughout the house. As you can see, there is some effort in these few houses to become more environmentally friendly.