In all the dorm hall bathrooms, a sign that reads ‘Take out your own trash’ is posted above each trash can. While these signs may be visible and clearly displayed, there is still a massive amount of personal trash being thrown by residents in them. Due to this, each resident of Drew, Schilling and Sorin Hall has received an email that threatens to issue a community trash fine of $25-$35 to everyone living in the dorms if this issue keeps happening, even if you are the one contributing to this problem or not.

Trash being thrown in the wrong bins has been a big problem for years here at Hamline, and no matter how often the residents are told that personal trash does not belong in the bathroom cans, it is still happening, and it’s almost impossible to catch the few people who are doing it.

“The reason for doing this is because I have been here for more than three years now and I actually haven’t caught the people dumping trash illegally. It’s so easy for them to avoid detection and not catch them,” Stasia DeWitt, the area coordinator for Drew Hall, said.

Many residents have mixed feelings about this, most seeing it as unfair to those who are not doing it.

“I think it’s wildly unfair to those of us that throw our trash out in the right spot,” Finneas Rutledge, a resident of Drew Hall’s second floor, said.

“It can be problematic for those who can’t afford to be fined. There should be an option to waive it for those who don’t have enough money to pay for it and aren’t the ones doing it,” first-year Alexandria Coston who lives in Schilling said.

Residents also question why it matters where they throw their trash. After all, trash cans are made for all trash, aren’t they?

“There are 90 residents per floor, and if we had all of them throwing their trash in there, it could be a major problem. The purpose of the bathroom trash can is to hold paper towels, so they use thin bags. So when people throw food and drinks in them, it can rip and stink,” DeWitt said.

Bag ripping can be a big problem for our custodians, the Marsden Team Members, as they already work so hard to keep our bathrooms tidy and clean, and shouldn’t have to deal with cleaning up spilled trash from the wrong garbage being thrown away in them.

Though this community trash fine may seem like the best option for RezLife to take, students have suggested other, more fair, options that could be better for the future of residential halls, such as investing in thicker trash bags so that they won’t rip from the extra weight or even cameras.

“Some kind of camera by the trash cans would be helpful to know who’s doing it. Or having a really big penalty if you get caught doing it to discourage the ones doing it,” Rutledge said.

For now, the trash issue has died down after receiving the email, but like in previous years, it will most likely become a big issue again due to new students coming in.

Students are heavily encouraged to discourage their peers from throwing their personal trash in the bathrooms and to say something if they witness this act.