Recycling accessibility in apartments
1. Student apartments in Gainesville do not prioritize recycling because of convenience or poor planning.
a. Who: Student apartments in Gainesville
b. What: Do not prioritize recycling
c. Why: Convenience or poor planning in construction
2. Hypothesis
a. Test the who: Do other people have this need besides off-campus students in Gainesville? This is definitely a prominent issue in Gainesville student apartments but I am sure this need is not being met in regular apartments across the country as well.
b. Test the what: Is this problem created by the developers and construction planners of the buildings or is it created by residents lack of interest in recycling?
c. Test the why: Maybe it is not poor construction planning but good construction planning. Perhaps this is the most effective and logistical solution to waste management within the buildings.
3. Interviews
a. Interview 1—UCF Student: We do not even have a trash chute in the building. We have to take the trash out to the dumpster downstairs. There is not even a recycling bin in the building or next to the trash bins. This upsets me because climate change is happening and we can do small things every day to help. The building does not make recycling accessible to its residents, so if they make it so hard to do the little things (like recycling) how do they expect us to do the big things to help? We cannot just rely on a select few to change the earth, everyone has to do something but the building makes it hard for us to do so.
b. Interview 2—Student at an Arizona Community College: I do not live in a student apartment complex but we do have accessible recycling in my building. “I have a recycling bin in my apartment and when it is full I take it out to the dumpster that is for recycling. I think it’s pretty accessible to me and since I have a recycling bin in my apartment it’s really easy.”
c. Interview 3—Beaty Towers resident: In our dorm we have a trash can and recycling bin but only a trash chute in the building. I usually do not take out the trash. Most of the time, one of my roommates does it so I am honestly not sure if they recycle or not. I definitely think this is an important issue and that more people should recycle but I understand why people would not want to go out of their way every time they take out the trash to bring the recycling downstairs.
d. Interview 4—another Beaty Towers resident: We only have a trash chute in.the Beaty building so if we want to recycle we have to take it all the way downstairs and it is really inconvenient. My roommates and I try to recycle but most of the time it is easier for us to just throw all our trash all down the chute so we do not recycle as much as we would like to because it is inconvenient.
e. Interview 5—High school boarding school student: In our houses, the recycling bins are located next to the trash bins in the house. I find the recycling bins to be pretty accessible because I just walk into the bistro where I would take out my trash regularly. I think that people definitely recycle more because the recycling bins and trash bins are right next to each other so they are equally accessible.
4. From these interviews I learned a lot about my opportunity. I learned that this is not just an issue in Gainesville but around the country. Many students care about the well-being of our earth and believe that if the recycling was more accessible they would be more inclined to do it and they believe others would be as well. Most people I talked to seemed to want to recycle more and some seemed a little more complacent than others. I personally think this is an issue everyone needs to become more passionate about.
Hi Martha, I like how you wanted to test the recycling accessibility in apartments. I never gave it any thought but some apartments, especially in Gainesville, do not have trash chutes in the building. I 100% think the problem is created by the construction planners of the apartment complex. We need to take recycling very serious as a society, if not we can potentially suffer from unforeseen consequences. Furthermore, you should think about if the government (local, state, or federal) can enact laws or policies to make it mandatory for apartments to add recycling accessibility for apartments.
ReplyDeleteHey Martha! I really enjoyed the opportunity you decided to talk about. I too have thought of this as it is a problem in most apartment complexes. I believe it is very important to recycle but because these apartment complexes do not share with the residents the importance of recycling, one forgets to. Back at home we always recycle but here I forget to because of the unviability of recycle chutes.
ReplyDeleteHey Martha! I really enjoyed reading about your idea, and I think it is of most important to prioritize recycling due to the current state of the world, and how the trend for waste reduction has gained attention lately. I agree that the problem is structural within the same apartment complexes, either due to the planning of the buildings themselves, or poor management. I believe a great way of incentivizing college students into recycling would be developing a clearly marked, easy and effortless system that could be shared throughout the student accommodation complex as a whole, here in Gainesville. Incentivizing, other than resulting to fines has also been proven successful in countries with a high culture of recycling! Like the Netherlands. Perhaps a system of small rewards on campus or nearby stores in exchange for successful, organized and routinely recycling would help nurture the recycling culture in Gainesville and the UF community?
ReplyDelete