Ohio State has adopted a zero-waste goal to divert 90% of the 20,000 tons of campus waste away from landfills by 2025. One issue limiting this achievement is the amount of recycling contamination, in which items that cannot be recycled actually pollute the entire batch of recyclables causing the batch to be sent straight to the landfill instead. Make sure to rinse out bottles and containers to be clean of any food waste before throwing in the recycling bin. 

According to a study completed at the end of 2019, 50% of all waste in Central Ohio is being diverted from the SWACO municipal landfill to be recycled – this is great news! If you live off campus you have likely seen or used those big blue recycling canisters. If your residency has one of these, great, if not you can still contribute to the recycling effort in Columbus through the Drop box recycling program. There are over 200 public recycling drop boxes available through SWACO.

For this week’s feature, we have Fiona Doherty as our researcher of the week!

Congrats to the College of Social Work MSW/Ph.D. student, Fiona Doherty, for receiving the 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Graduate Student Grant in combination with Dr. Michelle Kaiser and community partner, Rachel Tayse of Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. Together, they will be conducting a 2-year research project focused on the social sustainability of beginning farmers in Ohio. The goal is to better understand the landscape of farmer mental health and stress management, while also laying the groundwork to tackle the broader structural causes of the exploitation of farmers and farm workers. There is a lot of great work being done in this area, and we are thrilled Fiona will be engaged in it!

Well done Fiona!

Robert Dahlberg-Sears is a 4th year, Ph.D. Candidate in the Musicology area of the School of Music. He researches the multifaceted and variegated meanings of punk and alternative sound worlds in Japan. He is an avid bicyclist and City of Saint Louis fanboy.

What would you like this committee to focus on within the coming year?

Wanderson is Chair of SERC for the 2020-2021 term. Wanderson is a second-year master’s candidate in the School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR). He is part of the PyroGoat project – a collaboration between SENR and the Department of Animal Sciences at OSU – he does research on goat performance, foraging behavior, and the economic sustainability of woodland grazing systems.  Outside of class and research, Wanderson advocates for sustainable agricultural projects and community gardening.

Email: novaispereira.1@osu.edu

The Sustainability and Environmental Responsibility Committee (SERC) advocates for the advancement of sustainable, economical, and environmentally friendly policies, procedures, and actions within CGS and across Ohio State, including waste reduction, energy consumption, and water conservation, among other environmentally responsible actions. Additionally, SERC works to increase education and awareness, as it relates to sustainability and environmental responsibilities, among students, faculty, and staff across the university.