One of the social distancing guidelines put in place this semester to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus has been to limit the amount of people that are allowed to sit and eat in the dining halls at one time.

As a result, many students are getting their food to go and eating it outside, assuming the weather is cooperating.

It is nice to see people enjoying the weather and each other’s company while eating. But once people are finished eating, they seem to pile their garbage on top of the outdoor garbage cans that are overflowing with food containers already.

We at The Daily Eastern News urge all students to dispose of their food waste properly on campus and refrain from piling up garbage on top of and around the outdoor garbage cans.

Firstly, the piles of garbage are unpleasant to look at. No one should want to live on a campus where garbage is visible, plus it can blow around campus on a windy day.

The piles of garbage also make more work for the BSWs on campus that are tasked with taking out the garbage. They have enough extra work to do this semester with COVID-19 sanitation guidelines and we should not create unnecessary work for them to do.

Lastly, the garbage can be bad for the environment when not properly disposed of. It is important to make sure to recycle any items that can be recycled. The garbage created on campus does not stay on campus, and throwing recyclable items in the garbage will cause them to sit in landfills.

It may be more convenient to simply pile your garbage around the can when you are finished eating, but please try to hold on to it until you find a can that it will fit in.