For my global citizenship class, we got in small groups to do an environmental projects. My group decided to watch the recycling bins in the library at the University of Utah to see if people really used them or not.
There is a bin for trash, one for metal, one for plastic, and one for mixed paper. For data collection, we used two graphs per day. One graph received a tally mark every time someone correctly used the bins, and the other received a tally mark for every incorrect use of the bins. We sat in 4 different locations in the library on 4 different days and 4 different times of day. We observed each day until we had seen 50 people use the bins.
What we noticed, even after the first day, is that people mainly use the 'trash' bin for everything they throw away, even if it's recyclable. On the first three days of data collection, the incorrect use of the bins outweighed the correct use. On the last day of data collection, there was slightly more correct usage of the bins.
Recycling is really important for many reasons. One is that recycling helps reduce the pollution caused by waste. Waste can destroy entire ecosystems and habitats which really isn't fair to our animal friends. It also uses a ton of energy to make things from raw materials, therefore recycling helps us preserve our natural resources. Not to mention, we are running out of room to put all of our waste!
I think it is really important for students at the U to learn about the benefits of recycling and why the separate bins are even in the library in the first place. Lectures or flyers (on recycled paper, of course ;) ) about recycling could be made accessible to students in order to improve recycling rates. There are 30,000 students at the U. Imagine how much waste we are producing that could be recycled!
http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/importance.html
There is a bin for trash, one for metal, one for plastic, and one for mixed paper. For data collection, we used two graphs per day. One graph received a tally mark every time someone correctly used the bins, and the other received a tally mark for every incorrect use of the bins. We sat in 4 different locations in the library on 4 different days and 4 different times of day. We observed each day until we had seen 50 people use the bins.
What we noticed, even after the first day, is that people mainly use the 'trash' bin for everything they throw away, even if it's recyclable. On the first three days of data collection, the incorrect use of the bins outweighed the correct use. On the last day of data collection, there was slightly more correct usage of the bins.
Recycling is really important for many reasons. One is that recycling helps reduce the pollution caused by waste. Waste can destroy entire ecosystems and habitats which really isn't fair to our animal friends. It also uses a ton of energy to make things from raw materials, therefore recycling helps us preserve our natural resources. Not to mention, we are running out of room to put all of our waste!
I think it is really important for students at the U to learn about the benefits of recycling and why the separate bins are even in the library in the first place. Lectures or flyers (on recycled paper, of course ;) ) about recycling could be made accessible to students in order to improve recycling rates. There are 30,000 students at the U. Imagine how much waste we are producing that could be recycled!
http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/importance.html
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