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Trashed Perception A Socioecological Comparative Investigation Brittany Urban and Shacini Mustachi Faculty Advisor: Dr. Michael Irwin Intro The objective of our research was to learn about the recycling process at Duquesne in contrast to students’ perception of the recycling process. We noticed that Duquesne students’ general attitude toward recycling seemed slightly careless, and hypothesized that their resulting behavior could have a negative impact on the recycling system. So we interviewed various Duquesne Facilities Management employees to learn more about the actual process, and used the information we learned to construct an online survey regarding the general attitude toward recycling. The survey was distributed to the residents of Duquesne Towers, and the responses of 100 students were collected and analyzed. Conclusion So what can we do to fix the damaged perception of the recycling process at Duquesne? Learn More! We hope that our research will help to spread the word about recycling here on campus. If students become more informed about what is actually going on past the recycling bin, they will be more likely to take responsibility for their actions, and become more aware of their recycling habits. We can also use this information to help Facilities Management improve upon the promotion of their efforts to recycle. The recycling process at Duquesne can only work efficiently and effectively if both Facilities Management and the student population work together to keep Duquesne green! Trashed Perception? Duquesne takes recycling very seriously, so how is it that the general student perception does not reflect this? One possibility is that students get the impression that recyclables are just thrown out with the non-recyclables. We learned from facilities management that when a recycling bin has been soiled with non-recyclable material, maintenance staff is trained to treat the bin as contaminated waste and dispose of all material with the non-recyclables. If students see this action without prior knowledge of the process, it is understandable that they could misinterpret Duquesne’s attitude toward recycling, thinking that Duquesne just throws all the recyclables and non-recyclables in the trash together. This makes students less likely to recycle, and more likely to contaminate recycling bins with non-recyclable materials. This behavior and attitude could spread across peers, and soon the whole student population’s perception is contaminated like an unfortunate recycling bin! We Compost! The Duquesne University Towers Dining Hall composts all left over organic food items. For February 2014 alone Towers Dining Hall collected 7.52 tons of compost! What are Green Compactors? Green trash compactors are designed to be more efficient than standard trash compactors. They have a built in monitoring system that is able to measure the level of product collected which enables the compactor to collect product to its maximum capacity before being emptied. The monitoring system has allowed Duquesne University to reduce truck traffic by 25%. Green compactors also operate on solar energy and each of the four compactors on campus have a solar panel. They are also painted using environmentally friendly paint and operate using environmentally friendly hydraulic fluid. Green compactors also have two- speed ram that is able to save energy by downshifting, where as standard trash compactors have only one gear and is unable to regulate the amount of energy it uses. Collection • Duquesne uses a single stream combining system that collects product from individual buildings on campus and brings it all to one location. Compaction • The product is collected is then compressed using a green compaction unit. Transportation • The compacted product is then sent to a recycling, production and distribution plant in Hazelwood PA. The compacted products are then separated using various techniques at the plant and redistributed among various buyers. In February 2014 Duquesne University collected a total of 22 metric tons of recycling product. This includes 13.48 metric tons of recycle product collected across campus, one ton of shredded paper per month and 7.52 tons of compost. Students do not think about recycling 18% Students feel that recycling is unimportant 11% Students feel that recycling is somewhat important 60% Students feel that recycling is very important 8% Missing 3% Which response best describes the Duquesne student population's attitude toward recycling? I always use a refillable water bottle 39% I use a refillable water bottle, but sometimes I buy new bottles when convenient 46% I always buy new bottles of water 11% Missing 4% Do you use a refillable water bottle or buy new bottles of water? Never 19% Sometimes 42% Often 20% Always 18% Missing 1% Do you separate recyclables from garbage before disposing of waste? Duquesne makes no effort to recycle 6% Duquesne makes some effort to recycle 69% Duquesne makes a considerable effort to recycle 20% Missing 5% Which statement best describes Duquesne's attitude toward recycling? No 29% Yes 70% Missing 1% Did you know that Duquesne has specifically designated trash and recycling compactors? No 78% Yes 21% Missing 1% Did you know that Duquesne composts discarded food from dining facilities? Student Survey Results
