Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2 (9A)

Interview 1—Jason, Former Beaty Towers resident, now living in a house near the university:

· When you were living in Beaty Towers how often did you recycle?

o To be honest, I never really recycled at beaty. I just found it was easier to throw everything down the trash chute because it was on my floor.

· If you had a recycling chute/accessibility to recycling bins on your floor do you think that you would have recycled more?

o Yes. Not recycling was purely a convenience issue in my case. Not only did I have to go down 7 flights of stairs if I wanted to recycle, but the recycling bins downstairs often filled up.

· Now that you are renting a house by campus how do you dispose of your waste?

o We have a recycling bin for paper, carboard, and plastic. We also have a trash bin, and a garbage disposal in the sink.

· Do you actually separate your trash from your recycling?

o Yes. But we don’t really use the paper recycling bin so much because we don’t use a lot of paper. It is mostly the bottles and the cans that we recycle.

· Do you think students living in student housing have enough/good access to recycling? Do you think this is not just an issue for the students but for regular Gainesville residents as well?

o It could be better. The system of recycling could be made more convenient for students. I think this is mostly an issue for those living in the dorms because dorms are so heavily populated that everyone is trying to do one thing (like take out the trash/recycle) that it ends up backing up or is too much to handle.

Interview 2—Abby, Tulane University, living in dorm:

· Do you recycle in your dorm?

o Only carboard. Like when I get packages.

· Is your recycling bins in the same location as your trash bins?

o Yes.

· So do you find the trash bins and recycling bins equally accessible?

o In most places, yes.

· Does your dorm offer recycling for carboard only or other things (like plastic) too?

o I think both.

· Is the reason you only recycle carboard (and not more) because the other recycling bins are harder to access than the trash bins?

o Yes

Interview 3—Jennings resident:

· How often do you recycle in Jennings?

o Once a week, and I take the trash out once a week also

· Is the recycling equally as equally accessible as the trash?

o Yes, the bins are next to each other. however, every floor does have a trash chute and not recycling.

· Do you think that if recycling and trash were the same more people would do it?

o Yes for sure. I see people throw their recycling down the trash chute all the time. And if people were not so lazy. They give both trash bin and recycling bins in the rooms, but they don't have recycling on every floor like the trash.

Interview 4—Another Jennings resident:

· How often do you recycle in Jennings?

o Never. I didn’t even know there was recycling in Jennings.

· How often do you take the trash out?

o Once a week, maybe.

· How do you take the trash out?

o In a chute thing on the floor

· How do you recycle?

o I don't

· Do you think that if recycling and trash were the same more people would do it?

o Yes. If it wasn’t so complicated I definitely would

Interview 5—standard resident

· How often do you recycle at the standard?

o I don’t recycle. We put all our trash and recyclables and take them out.

· Is recycling equally accessible as the trash?

o We do have recycling but its not really advertised. Hard to find the bins. I don’t use the chute, so I walk downstairs to the dumpsters

· How often do you take the recycling out?

o Never

· How often do you take the trash out?

o Depends on how much trash we have in a week.

· Do you think that if recycling and trash were the same more people would do it?

o I don’t think the problem comes from accessible. Its about if its convenient to separate it. I don’t think it would change the position of recycling for most people because people are lazy. We already have so much going on we don’t really have time to recycle.


Conclusions from interviews--

Who: Are there certain people or certain businesses that, although they share a lot in common with the others in your opportunity, nevertheless fall outside the boundary? Why?

• Yes. Those who live in the same environments as the others with the opportunity, but would be too lazy to separate their recyclables regardless of how close the recycling bins are.

What: At what point does the need you identified differ from another need? (Is thirst the same as hunger? Or is the desire to appear fashionable the same as the desire to be loved by others?)

• This need differs from the need of better accessibility to trash chutes or bins. Those are generally easily accessible and even if they are not people still need them so they will go however far they need to dispose of their trash. That is why the trash and the recycling must be in the same place.

Why: Is the underlying cause of the outsiders' need different than people who are inside the boundary?

• Yes. The people inside the boundary (students in student housing) have a need for better recycling management.