Office of Physical Plant (OPP) is experimenting with a new system of on-campus trash removal that may be a step in the right direction for making trash removal cost effective and aesthetically pleasing.

Paul Ruskin, spokesman for OPP, said the experimental system is using small teams of workers travelling in smaller, quieter pick-up trucks that collect the trash, instead of the system used in the past that required large metal trash bins to be emptied every morning. The bins created a great deal of noise pollution.

If the plan experiment works, the university will be improving the look of garbage collection while not incurring ridiculous costs that should not be added to the current distraught financial situation the university faces.

One of the goals of the new system is to lower the cost accompanying waste removal, but at this point no cost-saving estimates can be made, Ruskin said.

However, if this plan does not work, landscaping or walls might screen the existing bins, Ruskin said. This does not seem warranted. While making the university "prettier" is a nice touch, it is not necessary and does not justify the money it would take build these walls.

Too often the university is made better looking through unnecessary eye candy that is of no real use to students. Yes, the noise of a garbage bin being emptied in the early morning hours can be annoying to students, but if the reason to change the trash process is to fix noise pollution, then walls and landscaping are not the answers.

OPP should make sure the new means of trash removal betters the university, its employees, students all the while does not increase costs.