Thousands of parents flooded ASU last weekend, producing hundreds of pounds of waste.
To combat the Family Weekend garbage, ASU’s Green Team worked at the tailgate Saturday night and the breakfast for parents on Sunday morning. Their efforts resulted in an ASU first — 98 percent of waste was kept away from a city landfill.
The goal of the Green Team was to make these two events at the Tempe campus “zero waste” events.
“It was a huge success. This is unheard of at ASU,” said sustainability junior Natalie Fleming.
She directly oversees Green Team and is a founding director of ASU’s Center for Student Sustainability Initiatives.
Green Team is a 4-year-old volunteer organization that is a part of the CSSI, Fleming said.
This isn’t the first time a zero waste event has been held by Green Team. Last year, they held two zero waste events – one on Family Weekend and the other during Homecoming. The Family Weekend last year was the first time a zero waste event was attempted at ASU.
Fleming said that out of the 757 pounds of waste collected last year, only 36 pounds were thrown away and about 93 percent of the waste was diverted from landfills. The rest was recycled or turned into compost.
This year, she said the zero waste initiative did even better. Approximately 767 pounds of waste were collected and just 15 pounds, or about 2 percent, were sent to a landfill.
“We were really excited about it [being so low] … we were expecting it, and my estimate was pretty close,” Fleming said.
Before Family Weekend, the Green Team and CSSI worked in conjunction with the Transition and Parent Programs – the organization that helped set up Family Weekend – to decide what utensils, plates and cups should be at the events. They used plastic cups, plates and utensils, which could all be recycled.
Also, Green Team worked with TerraCycle — a company that makes eco-friendly products from non-recyclable materials — so they could recycle materials that normally can’t be reused, like chip bags.
“[TerraCycle] accepts products that can’t be composted, like bags, and turns them into other products,” Fleming said.
During the events, Green Team volunteers stood beside waste stations around the Old Main Lawn on the Tempe campus for the Saturday tailgate and the Memorial Union for the Sunday breakfast. These stations had two recycling bins, two compost bins, one bin for liquids only and one very small trash can.
Industrial engineering junior Alex Davis said when people would go to dispose of their waste, the volunteers would educate them about recycling and conservation.
“The majority of people were interested about the project … it was fun to see people take an interest in learning,” said sustainability sophomore and Green Team volunteer Natalia Trulsson.
CSSI was a division of the Undergraduate Student Government until this year, when it evolved into more of a partnership role. Green Team is open to all students, regardless of major or year.
“I wanted an outlet where I could get involved with ASU and help save the planet, and I can do that in the Green Team,” Trulsson said.
Reach the reporter at connor.radnovich@asu.edu
