A response to: http://cornellsun.com/2017/11/30/lets-talk-trash-how-wastenot-is-tackling-waste-on-campus/
Recently The Cornell Daily Sun published a feature titled “Let’s Talk Trash: How WasteNot! Is Tackling Waste on Campus,” which details the successful new sustainability measures on campus.
Since 2015, WasteNot! has been conducting food audits, analyzing patterns in students’ disposable habits. The club recently concluded that clear, visual signage could combat the thoughtlessness that leads to recycling and compost bin contamination. In addition to offering students clear images of which waste products go in which bins, the signs render instructions in the five most-spoken languages on campus.
While the ‘waste-way’ in Kline had similar signage for students (that is, when they were trusted to sort their own waste), there was certainly still a campus-wide ignorance of what products are recyclable, compostable, and landfill-bound. As part of my final project, I will propose that Bard dining services invest in compostable food packaging for Down the Road Cafe and Manor House. In this case, compost bins will need to be out in the campus center and in Manor House. Comprehensible signage, such as WasteNot!’s, will be essential to ensuring students are disposing of waste most efficiently.
WasteNot! has also created smaller labels to put on individual dispensers and products, such as reminders that “Napkins are compostable!” and “This container is recyclable!” on á la carte sandwich boxes. These so-called “touch points” further combat the issue of unawareness. I believe marking disposable products in Bard dining halls would make students more mindful, as well.
Additionally, WasteNot! is creating an incentive for the use of reusable mugs on campus. All students who opt to use their own mug or one from the “Community Mug Program,” receive a 25-cent discount in á la carte cafes.
Cornell’s WasteNot! initiatives have proven to be impactful (the contamination in bins outside of their cafeteria alone has dropped by 10% for landfill, 17% for recycling and 19% for compost). Cornell is a much larger institution than Bard, giving me hope that simply educating students can increase cognizance, especially as one of my arguments for managing disposable waste is bettering students’ waste literacy.
Do you think Bard students will be receptive to adopting initiatives similar to those of Cornell’s WasteNot! club?