Community organizing is crucial to the success of this composting project. Without support and participation from students, waste managers and the group itself, this project is not doable. We are aware of a living-learning community that might be working on this same issue. It is our job to get in touch with them to figure out what we can do to contribute and make this vision a reality.
With over 60,000 students on campus, spreading awareness of this program and actually implementing it into dining areas will be difficult. There is a lot of work and effort that goes into making sure items are placed properly. With a constant influx of students who are occupied and on their way out the door, they might just throw their containers in the regular garbage because it is easier. We need to find effective ways to reach the Ohio State community by informing them in a brief and effective way.
I think social media will be a beneficial tool in reaching out to our community. This could include doing a mini series on the campus snapchat story. Many students watch this story and it would even be helpful if we could find data on how many people watch the story per day. Additionally, we could get something in the lantern or on other social media platforms. I think that informing students before they might see the system will help the adjustment. When my high school went zero waste it took time for students to get the hang of separating their trash. Even though it was a breeze after a couple months, people are anxious and they don’t want to spend time hovering over trash bins.
Another difficulty with organizing such a project is the size of our campus and the number of trash bins around each facility. Hopefully by targeting one or two areas such as the RPAC or 12th ave bread co, we can familiarize people with the system and eventually expand. We also need to consider how many people need to be involved in this project and the staff and faculty to go through to make this possible. This video is from the zero waste Ohio State football games. It was amazing to see how much trash they have kept out of landfills but also the amount of work that has gone into the effort. Overall, with time and effort we can hopefully channel the zero waste football program and expand it throughout campus https://youtu.be/mMTpGUDqaY4