A recent study shows the current generation’s college students are less interested in recycling and the environment than past students.
According to a study published March 5 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, fewer students are taking action to help the environment. Millennials, the generation born after 1982, showed less interest in their communities, social issues and protecting the environment than Generation X.
Researchers pulled information from two data collections to evaluate high school seniors and college freshmen.
Fifteen percent of Millennials said they made no personal effort to help the environment. Five percent of baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1961, said the same.
Ashley Pennington, outreach coordinator for the Office of Sustainability, said the study does not correlate with what she sees at UF.
According to the Office of Sustainability’s website, UF recycles about 6,000 tons of material a year, and an office report stated that about 3,000 students are involved with sustainability.
Industrial engineering freshman Germain Gutierrez, 19, said laziness stops him from recycling.
“I think about it, but I don’t recycle,” he said.
