CAMPUS WASTE REDUCTION
2019 – Present
We work with campus organizations, residence life, and off-campus students to increase sustainability awareness, support waste reduction and diversion, and increase reusable options.
UChicago Dining: from plastic to compostable
CWR worked with UChicago Dining and Student-run coffee shops to promote alternatives to single-use plastic. The group was successful, and starting March 1st, 2022, UChicago Dining transitioned plastic utensils and bags in Hutchinson Commons, Maroon Market, and Midway Market, and cafés operated by dining to compostable cutlery and compostable bags.
The switch originated from a collaboration with College Council to survey students on sustainability in UChicago Dining for the 2021-2022 academic year.
PSI X MODA MAG POP-UP THRIFT SHOP
Campus Waste Reduction successfully organized a 3 day pop-up thrift shop fundraiser for a local environmental justice organization, People for Community Recovery, in collaboration with MODA magazine March 3rd-5th, 2022. The goals of the project were to create an on-campus location for people to donate their unwanted clothing (diverting waste from landfills), provide an opportunity for people to choose sustainable fashion alternatives, educate students about the importance of sustainable fashion, involve a wide variety of students in sustainability on-campus, and raise funds for environmental justice in Chicago
$4,808
Raised for People for Community Recovery
Campus Waste Reduction collected clothes in mid-February in Reynolds Club. The clothing donations from University of Chicago students and faculty became the inventory to sell at the pop-up thrift shop.
The project group donated the excess clothing leftover after the 3-day thrift shop to Brown Elephant Resale Shops, where all proceeds benefit LGBTQ+ health and fund care for the uninsured and under-insured at Howard Brown Health.
The Pop-Up Thrift Shop's opening day was packed!
PSI and MODA Mag members setting up the thrift shop on its final day.
140 people lined up to enter the Pop-Up Thrift Shop in Reynolds Club on opening day.
The Pop-Up Thrift Shop's opening day was packed!
CWR also educated shoppers on sustainable fashion through a detailed Google Maps link organizing various locations of thrift and vintage stores in Chicago, promoting and streaming the documentary The True Cost, and graphics displaying statistics on the environmental and social cost of mass creating clothing
MODA Magazine helped with graphic design for social media, social media event promotion, and styling display outfits
Off-Campus Recycling Accessibility
We created and acted on our "Winter Quarter Off-Campus Waste Audit Survey." This survey revealed a high need across the off-campus community for recycling bins. We thus began working with calling the largest Hyde Park property management companies to start a conversation about accessibility to recycling.
While continuing the outreach effort to property management companies, we are now encouraging tenants to report their landlords for violating the Chicago Municipal Code via a social media campaign.
We created ongoing conversations with 7 Hyde Park property management companies.
In collaboration with the Science, Art, and Sustainability (SAS) project group, we started a plastic package recycling pilot in Woodlawn Residential Commons. In Spring 2021, we placed boxes in the lounges of 5 houses and have promoted through weekly house emails and posters the option of recycling plastic bags and Amazon packaging through these boxes.
In the 2021-2022 academic year, we continued work on this pilot by researching, writing project proposals, reaching out to administrators, and creating educational content about plastic film recycling.