During my time at the University of South Carolina, I have come to notice the lack of recycling and the abundance of trash accumulated on the streets, especially on the busier parts of campus. I have also noticed that the University is not educating faculty and students on this problem or promoting ways to prevent and fix it. We have a very beautiful and historic campus, and the University hires people to keep the more popular attractions like the horseshoe clean and trash free. But what about the rest of campus? Students and faculty should treat their campus as a part of their community and do their job to keep it clean and trash free. As someone pursuing the Professional and Civic Engagement pathway, I feel that it is one of my responsibilities to educate people on this problem happening right in front of us. My solution is for the university to promote better trash and recycling management and education.
While I was abroad in the spring of 2020, I participated in a last-minute beach clean-up in Honolulu, Hawaii. My class was planning on hiking up a volcano, but the weather was supposed to be bad, so our tour guide cancelled on us two days before we were supposed to arrive. Within those two days we were able to organize with a local who is an avid participator in beach clean ups to bring us to a beach and guide us in the cleanup process. As elaborated on in my Key Insight titled “The Land Ethic: Treating the Land as Our Community,” it was very easy to plan and didn’t cost us any money. We met our guide, Austin, at a popular beach where he told us a little bit about himself and his connection with the oceans and Hawaii. We then walked along the beach while learning more about his life stories and experiences while looking for trash on the beach and in the parts of the ocean that meet the beach. This was a very fun experience for my class because we got to learn more about Hawaii, spent the day on the beautiful beach (even though it was raining, it was still gorgeous), and got to play our part in caring for the land that we were lucky enough to be able to visit.
After participating in this it felt great to know that just an hour or two of my time was spent making a positive change to the environment. This is just an example of how simple and educational trash management can be, and it can be even simpler with my plan that I am proposing for the University of South Carolina.
Solution:
I propose that the University 101 programs integrates a one-day lesson plan educating the students about the environment, and the affects that our trash has on not just our campus, but our environment as a whole. In addition to teaching the effects of proper trash disposal, peer leaders should also give suggestions on how to better dispose and manage trash and recycling. Having been a peer leader previously, I would have loved to create a lesson plan promoting environmental consciousness on campus. Prior to teaching this lesson, the cultural iceberg model could affect how to go about it as referenced in my Key Insight titled “The Cultural Iceberg: Digging Deeper.” Environmental beliefs are a non-visual category and understanding your class’s previous knowledge and beliefs on this topic beforehand will make the lesson more valuable and effective. In addition to having a lesson taught in U101, the university should put more trash cans around campus, especially in the busier parts such as Greene St, areas outside/ around dorms and dining halls, and on common paths to Five Points that students take from campus. Having more trash cans will encourage people to dispose of their trash properly instead of leaving it on the streets.
Another suggestion I propose for the university is to provide recycling bins in the dorms. When I lived in East Quad my roommates and I asked if there was a way we could get a recycling bin, or if there was any separation of trash and recycling in the general trash Schutte. My RA told us that they would not provide us with a recycling bin, and even if we got one ourselves and separated our trash, it will all go in the same place and it would make no difference. The university should set up recycling bins on one side of the trash room, and trash cans on the other in each dorm’s trash room. In addition, they should provide each dorm room with a recycling bin to promote recycling and proper trash disposal. I have been informed that since my time as a freshman, some of the dorms have begun giving out recycling bins, but still not all of the residents are provided with them. Also, the trash room is still not separated, and the recycling and trash put into the rooms all go to the same place even if the students had separated it. Once this problem is fixed, RMs should inform their residents about their recycling bin, and let them know what should and should not be recycled. When doing this, RMs should also be educated on the land ethic and learn about how we should treat land (and in this case our campus and dorms) as a part of our community to get a better understanding on why this is important.
My last proposition is that somewhere on or near the trash cans on and around campus there should be a QR code for students to scan every time they dispose of their trash properly. This system will allow students to get points for proper trash disposal and the ability to earn prizes or perks through the University. This system will work like the points systems to get football game tickets and you have to scan your tickets at each sporting event to get points to be qualified for a football ticket. By implementing this QR code system, the University can track who is actually using these new trash cans, and students and faculty will be more compelled to actually use them. These prizes could be free coupons for on campus dining, a discount at the bookstore, Starbucks gift cards, and other small and non-financially burdening incentives.
Plan:
For this plan to work the University will have to implement a few things:
A required lesson in University 101 programs
Alcohol Edu is a required lesson in all types of U101 programs, this would be a similar implementation
Peer leaders will talk about example lessons and different ways to go about this class in EDLP
Fun suggestions include; class trash pick-up, a recycling activity were students bring in some sort of trash or recycling and they make something out of it
These could either be in place of a class session, or even an extra credit opportunity
The U101 office could also collaborate with a green or environmental club on campus and have them come talk to the students in the class. This would not only help the club spread their knowledge and passion on the topic but could even introduce the first-year students to a new club they can join on campus.
One organization that would be a good fit for this role are the EcoReps. The UofSC EchoReps are committed to furthering University Housing's commitment to sustainable living through teaching and demonstrating sustainable living best practices while building and inclusive community of sustainability leaders on the UofSC campus.
University provided recycling bins in dorm rooms
Separated recycling and trash Schutte in each dorm
More trash cans in high traffic areas
QR code points system with prizes rewarded to students who have the most points over periods of time.
Evaluation:
The effectiveness of this plan would be measured using the QR codes put on the trash cans that students can scan when disposing of their trash properly. This QR code is a great way of measuring the effectiveness of these trash cans, but also a great incentive for students and faculty to actually use them. Depending on the volume and success of trash and recycling and the feedback from the QR code, we can also begin to display more trash and recycling cans in high volume areas. Another incentive that could be used is a University 101 class competition. Every year there is a competition amongst University 101 classes to see who has gone to the most sporting events and this class gets a pizza party. We can implement the same kind of competition amongst University 101 classes to get students to start actually using these QR codes and have them continue to use them, and to have the encouragement from their classmates and peer leader’s as well.
Conclusion:
Ultimately by adding these trash cans around campus with the QR codes and teaching all freshmen in U101 about proper trash management will result in our campus being a cleaner and safer place. These implementations are rooted in my key insights by trying to get the Gamecock community to treat our campus as a part of their community to encourage them to keep it clean. It also reflects on the cultural iceberg by having people show more of their non-visible traits having to do with their environmental beliefs. I would really love to help solve this problem of poor trash management on our campus, and my passion mainly began after having so much fun on my beach cleanup while also knowing that I am making a positive change for the environment. Also, being a peer leader and also taking U101 as a freshman showed me how much impact U101 has on each freshman’s first year experience, and how this program has potential to create a wave of influence across campus. I believe that as someone who has a lot of leadership experience and who focuses on a healthy and clean environment in my leadership roles and in my future career goals reflects on my pathway in Professional and Civic Engagement by implementing cheap, and simple projects that will make a large positive impact on the campus and our community as a whole.