Academic Year 2010-2011
Students for Sustainable Living - Recycling and Waste Management Team
The Recycling and Waste Management group has great things planned for the coming year. Although Duke has a recycling program, many recyclable items still end up in the trash. We have several projects planned for the coming year.
1) Increase the volume of recyclables by educating undergrads on what can be recycled, including e-waste, batteries, and various types of plastic. We plan to launch a campaign with creative posters and handouts to advertise and increase awareness about recycling.
2) Increase participation in the Free Strore and set up a permanent location easily accessible to students.
3) Partner with other student groups (DSG and SESC) and the athletics department to increase recycling during basketball games and in the walk-up line.
Academic Year 2009-2010
Duke University Greening Initiative: Waste Management Committee Fall 2009 Update:
The DUGI Waste Management Committee made the decision to focus on recycling on campus. The committee felt that recycling has the best opportunity for impact since there was already some progress that had been made last year with GPSC Green Team and the committee felt there was a lot of room for improvement. The committee is currently working on an online survey that will be distributed to Nicholas School of the Environment students, faculty, and staff to get opinions on recycling practices in the Nicholas School and where there may be areas to target for improvement. Once survey results are in, the committee plans to look into a pilot recycling project for improving recycling in the Nicholas School. Additional project ideas include (1) a printer cartridge recycling station allowing students to bring cartridges from home for recycling and (2) working with Duke Recycles to re-label recycling bins on campus to reflect commingled rather than separated recycling (currently, recycling bins on campus ask people to separate bottles, cans, and paper). The plan is to start these projects early in spring semester (2010).
Composting on Campus:
Between the spring and summer of 2009, three compost bins were built on Duke's campus. Combine, they have a 3.5 ton capacity for handling compostable materials.
Two bins are located at the on-campus community gardens (The Honey Patch on Anderson Street and the Duke Community Garden on Faber Street). These compost bins serve the community gardens and Henry's kitchen at the Jewish Center).
The largest bin is located in the south courtyard of the LSRC A-wing and it is affiliated with the Nicholas School. All community members are encouraged to bring their compostable items to this bin.
Students for Sustainable Living: Waste and Recycling Team
Our team has three main focuses for this semester, each ranked based on urgency and feasibility:
1) Coffee Break with Duke Recycles: This is a program targeted toward faculty and staff in both academic and administrative buildings to help raise awareness about the resources available to them through the recycling office and Sustainable Duke. we will be collaborating with Duke recycles to help finalize project plans and logitics and help give presentations to various campus offices.
2) Other tangible, easily doable projects: Labeling, sinage, etc. (we will need to talk to other groups that are doing this to collaborate), advertising/marketing for different initiatives on campus (e.g. "Buy-a-Bin" and "Move Out for Charity"), the free store, and a resource guide/inventory to help Arwen keep track of contacts and to further develop this wiki page.
3) In the midst of the above two, we hope to focus on developing plans for the implementation of creative/innovative ideas. One such idea we would help with, which is already building momentum, is creating a vending machine that takes back your empty cans. Overall, the idea here is to help raise awareness about the creative possibilities within the waste and recycle sector and help to initiate a so called "creative movement".
GPSC GreenTeam: Recycling Bin Distribution Pilot Program 2009
Spring 2009: Funds were obtained through Campus services to distribute 100 recycling bins, free of charge, to graduate students via online survey request. Survey data was collected from participants several weeks after receiving the bins.
Spring 2010 - Update: The GPSC Green Team has continued to offer recycling bins for office/lab use free to graduate students as part of the recycling bin distribution program. In addition, the recycling team has opened a dialogue with administrators to address the recycling services offered in medical center and hospital buildings which are not currently served by Duke Recycles, but by an outside contractor.
Recycling Campaign - Environmental Alliance
Through the Recycling Campaign we hope to get the message out about the what's, where's, and how's of recycling on Duke's Campus. Our main goal is to educate the student body as to what can be recycled (it's not just plastic and aluminum these days) and where they can recycle it. We plan educate the students by creating and distributing informational recycling guides and by hosting some fun and entertaining events in hopes of increasing recycling on campus.
What we hope to tackle first is the issue of dealing with all the "stuff" left behind after students move out of their dorms and apartments at the end of the spring semesters. We want to find charities and organizations that will accept donations of extra food, furniture, clothes, etc. that people can't take home or store at the end of the year. We would love to get you involved in our Recycling Campaign and the Environmental Alliance.
If you have any ideas or recommendations for this campaign, please feel free to contact either Nyssa Baechler (nyssa.baechler@duke.edu) or Leslie Hillman (leslie.hillman@duke.edu).
Every little action can help to make a difference!