Zero Waste Week at the University of Michigan:
2024
Overview
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Ashley Tasmaan
While doing research on air pollution and climate change in Beijing during the summer of 2015, ZeroWaste.Org co-founders Samuel McMullen and Lydia McMullen-Laird realized that their consumption habits, along with the production of the disposable items in their life, were creating the problems they were researching. They embarked on a zero trash and zero recycling journey to lessen their negative impact and create more sustainable habits. ZeroWaste.Org was created to share the necessary knowledge and skills required to put zero waste into action in order to decrease our collective dependence on overconsumption and extraction. Over the past 8 years, Samuel and Lydia have built the resources, community, systems, and support that people need to stand in their power and start movements for zero waste. ‘Zero Waste Week’ (ZWW) is their flagship program, designed specifically for institutions and municipalities. Analysis of our challenge results reveals that the week-long challenge is an effective way to introduce people to the zero waste lifestyle. Through the building of mindful habits, people effectively enact systemic environmental change.
The goal of this event was to help people realize that living zero waste—while challenging—is manageable and can create a lifelong shift in perspective. But is zero waste suitable for college students, with their fast-paced lives that are often unplanned and on strict budgets? Can a zero waste movement succeed on a college campus? This case study will explore these questions through the Zero Waste Week 2024 Challenge at the University of Michigan.
During the challenge, participants pledge to avoid creating trash and recycling for one week. Participants collect any trash they produce accidentally or unintentionally to be reviewed at the end of the week. Bringing awareness is one of the first steps to transitioning to a zero waste lifestyle, as the challenge helps create something we call a “trash-lens”, which is where participants begin to see just how wasteful our current consumption habits are. The aim with the zero waste transition is to teach participants, step-by-step, how to produce less waste and support the circular economy in the participant's city, university, or business.
Participants are presented with the following challenge guidelines:
1. What Counts as Waste: Any new thing you acquire during the week, including wrappers, bags, containers, receipts, and food scraps (if you don’t have access to a compost).
2. Exceptions: Waste from your work and waste associated with medications or other medical needs don’t count.
Participants also receive a daily email course that covers the following topics in depth: food, compost, home, social life, and activism. This email course gives participants the resources they need to successfully tackle a zero waste challenge in their daily lives along with a series of live and online events, which will be expanded upon in the following sections.
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