Day 8-9 Zero Waste
Cherry Flavored Emus - Kendra
West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Food/Drink Container Waste
Every day as I make my way to and from class meandering around my
campus I see trash and recycling bins filling fast with mostly food product waste.
Sometimes the bins are overflowing with plastic food containers, coffee cups,
wrappers etc. College students are always on the go and it is very convenient to
just pick up some type of pre-packaged food in between classes, so I
understand why there is so much waste, but there must be something we can
do about it!
After some research I have found many schools are tackling this issue with
a few different methods. However, it all comes down to a behavior change of
the population. In order to reduce our waste we must make small changes in
how we normally do things. Two methods to motivate change used by some
schools are competition and rewards. Aquinas College held a competition
between its housing buildings where trash was sorted and weighed. The house
with the highest percentage of recycled or composted waste won. The
University of Vermont rewards their students for reusing containers by having
student “Eco-reps” who can give out rewards like a coupon for a free drink if
they see you using a reusable cup.
Currently on my campus our dining hall does provide the option to buy a
reusable carry-out food container, but this option is not provided in food
establishments like the Diner or the Sykes Food Court. We also have
convenience stores and too many vending machines which sell practically
everything pre-packaged. I think that providing more reusable containers and
rewarding students for using them would be a great start to reducing our
container waste.
Promoting reusable containers is a good way to get people to start
thinking about their choices when buying products while also giving them a
sustainable option to participate in right away. I also think it is necessary to have
some sort of reward system in place along with the reusable containers. I think
this is necessary because of the feedback I received from the people I
discussed this topic with and from the people I interviewed. Most people I spoke
to agreed that we need a reward system because we need people to change
their behavior so that they choose the reusable containers and other more
sustainable options in the long run. I think that a reward system like University of
Vermont’s Eco-rep program is a great way to give credit and acknowledge
people who are making less wasteful decisions. I believe that if we were to have
a reward system the word would spread fast and it could lead to even bigger
changes!
Interviews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52KPaovmStU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jW3FXbN3vw