The Cans for Cancer program, in which Adelphi University teams up with Winthrop University Hospital to raise money for children’s cancer research by redeeming recyclable cans and bottles, has been the center of much controversy among the athletes since it first began.

Each athletic team is responsible for emptying its respective recycling bins throughout the campus on a regular basis. The bags are brought to a dumpster in the back of the parking lot behind Post Hall. Then, approximately once a month, it is the responsibility of all the athletes to get together and work as a team to open each bag of garbage and sort through it to separate the recyclable items from the other trash that has been thrown into the recycle bins. A lot of what is sorted through is simply items that aren’t recyclable in the state of New York, i.e. water bottles, juice bottles, frappuccino bottles. However, there is a substantial amount of regular garbage, such as food, coffee, papers, and even the occasional diaper, that our athletes also come in contact with.

“It’s definitely gross,” says junior Oliver Hudesman, a member of the Men’s Golf team. “There’s coffee, fluids…it’s just not sanitary. It’s good in theory [to raise the money for cancer research], but it’s not done properly.”

By “not done properly,” Hudesman is referring to the fact that the athletes are not provided with sufficient means of protection when sorting through the garbage. In fact, with the exception of rubber gloves, they are not provided with anything at all. Aside from the fact that it is disgusting to handle garbage with or without gloves, it is a serious health risk to be inhaling garbage fumes without at least your face protected by a mask.

“I think [the athletes] would be more willing to do it if they had better protection,” Hudesman said. “It’s a great idea but right now it’s not safe.”

One member of the Women’s Softball team, who wished to remain anonymous, disagreed, saying that people “probably still wouldn’t want to do it [even with protection] because it’s just gross.”

“I like the idea behind it, but I don’t like the fact that the athletes have to do it!” proclaimed freshman Oren Rasowsky, a member of the Men’s Baseball team.

As an athlete myself, I can honestly say that no one, athlete or not, should have to do it.  Two weeks ago, when the girls of the bowling team and I did our time sorting through the dozens of bags of garbage in the dumpster, we were faced with not only the expected stickiness and smell of trash, but also with infestations of maggots and other insects. Maggots, known for their job of decomposing flesh after death, are attracted by garbage, among other things, and can carry several serious diseases.

So, while in theory the idea of recycling all the bottles a campus collects and putting the proceeds towards cancer research is a great idea, realistically it is disgusting and unsafe. Besides the bugs, there is also always the chance that someone will get cut with dirty, broken glass while digging through bags. This is something that has to be stopped, because the risks far outweigh the benefits.

As one campus employee who wished to remain anonymous put it, “Adelphi works in conjunction with Nassau Coliseum to raise the money. Nassau is a huge venue. If a check for $8,000 is presented to the hospital, how much of it does Adelphi really contribute? I see these kids out here going through endless bags of garbage, and if they go through 20 bags, they get maybe two bags full of recycle. It’s just not worth it.”

Rasowsky proposed that the athletic department should come up with another way to raise money for cancer research, such as the baseball team holding a home run derby. My teammates on the Women’s Bowling team mentioned possibly holding a bowl-a-thon which would get all the athletes, coaches, and families involved. Each of these events are capable of raising just as much, if not more, money and are undoubtedly safer and more enjoyable for those participating.

However, if the idea of recycling truly is that important and the University wants to continue to do it, another, albeit more expensive, idea is to invest in a machine that does the sorting for you. As seen in Wired Magazine in January 2006, though it is harder for a machine to sort glass from garbage than it would be to pick wood out from paper, technology has become advanced enough to do it. Though it is still a fairly new concept, within the next few years it certainly could be an option worth considering. (To read the full article, visit http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70078).

For now, as a plea to the student body and the faculty at Adelphi, the member of the softball team who asked to remain anonymous says that she’d “hope that people who put the cans in clean them out first. And stop putting in trash!”