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Presentation Spring 2014
- 1. Carly H. Dukes, Alicia T. Rapini, Emily M. Thomas Professor Uma Krishnan HONR 10297-001 Kent State University 21 April 2014 Reusable Bags at Kent State University
- 2. Overview A. Introduce reusable bags B. Eliminate plastic bag waste
- 3. Background A. Plastic bags 1. Environmentally unsustainable B. Reusable bags 2. Environmentally sustainable
- 4. Purpose A. Short term 1. Introduce reusable bags 2. Reduce plastic bag use B. Long term 1. Eliminate plastic bag use
- 5. Scope A. Introduce reusable bags B. Eliminate plastic bags C. Collaborate with university
- 6. Definitions A. Environmental Sustainability 1. Three Ps: People, Planet, Prosperity 2. Local and global scale 3. Support future generations B. Community-based social marketing 1. Sustainable change requires: a. Altering attitudes/behaviors/beliefs b. Offering incentive to do so
- 7. Limitations Outside of researchers’ control A. Finance B. Transportation C. Time
- 8. Delimitations Inside researchers’ control A. Population 1. Kent State University students/faculty B. Location 1. Rosie’s, Prentice, Eastway, Bookstore
- 9. Benefits A. Students 1. Environmental sustainability knowledge 2. Participation in design contest 3. Personal reusable bag 4. Incentives for reusable bag use a. Discount on purchase total b. Donation to charity c. FlashPerks points
- 10. Benefits B. Kent State University 1. Advertisement on bag 2. Long term savings 3. Public recognition
- 11. Data Gathering A. Primary sources 1. Interviews 2. Surveys
- 12. Data Analysis A. Plastic Bag Use on Campus 1. 92% use plastic bags 2. 3.93 plastic bags/week/student 3. 24,366 total/week B. Student interest 1. 8% currently use reusable bags 2. 80% willing to use reusable bags
- 13. Survey Questions A. Have you heard about this “Reusable Bag at Kent State University” student- led initiative before? B. Would you be interested in getting involved to further this initiative?
- 14. Survey Responses A. 67.6% of students have heard of the “Reusable Bags at Kent State” initiative before B. 53.5% of students are interested in getting further involved in this initiative
- 15. Recommendations A. Finance: 1. Grant 2. Fee 3. Selective distribution B. Competition (including prizes) C. Incentives D. Bag share
- 16. A. Online Petition B. Student Email List C. Multimodal Project D. Reusable Bags in Rosie’s Market Progress
- 17. Summary A. Introduce reusable bags across campus 1. Fall 2014 B. Eliminate plastic bags 1. Spring/Fall 2015 C. Support from students and faculty
- 18. Works Cited “Appendix: Policy Instruments Applied Around the World to Tackle the Plastic Bags Problem.” United Nations Environmental Programme. United Nations Environmental Programme, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. “Bagging plastic.” State Legislatures 37.5 (2011): 10. Student Resources in Context. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. “Bring Your Own Bag.” Why Bring Your Own Bag? N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. “Campaign Against the Plastic Plague Background Info.” Earth Resource Foundation. Earth Resource Foundation, 2013. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. Drabold, Will. “Plastic Bags to Be Removed from Campus Markets and Grab N Go's.” The Post. Ohio University, 12 Apr. 2013. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. “Economic Impact Analysis: Proposed Ban on Plastic Carryout Bags in Los Angeles County” AECOM Technical Services. AECOM Technical Services, 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
- 19. Works Cited Garrity, Jackson. Personal Interview. 8 Apr. 2014. Lewis, Mark. “Re: Students Interested in Reusable Bags at Rosie’s.” Message to Emily Thomas. 8 Apr. 2014. E-mail. Marni, Manvitha. "Bag Use Reduction Efforts to Replace Proposed Campus Plastic Bag Ban." Student Life. N.p., 5 Sept. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. Mitchell, Cicely. “Think Green Thursdays: Benefits Of Using Reusable Bags « CBS Houston.” CBS Houston. N.p., 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. “Nasty Plastic Facts.” Plastic Bag Facts. Love Your Earth, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. “Plastic Bag Bans: Analysis of Economic and Environmental Impacts” Equinox Center. Equinox Center, 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
- 20. Works Cited Profita, Cassandra. "Reusable Bags: Only Superior to Plastic If You Reuse Them - a Lot." Oregon Public Broadcasting, 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. Roldan, Richard. “Re: Reusable Bags at KSU” Message to Alicia Rapini. 9 Apr. 2014. E-mail. “Reusable Cloth Bags at Kent State University: Student Interest.” Survey. 4 Apr. 2014. Smith, Tovia. “How Green are Reusable Bags?” National Public Radio. NPR, 2013. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. Villarreal, Pamela. “A Survey on the Economic Effects of Los Angeles County’s Plastic Bag Ban” Ideas Changing the World. National Center for Policy Analysis, 2012. 18 Apr. 2014.
Editor's Notes
- The reason we feel that plastic bags are an issue that needs to be resolved is that plastic bags are proven to be environmentally unsustainable. According to the Earth Resource Foundation, plastic bags are made of nonrenewable resources and can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade in a landfill- and technically, they don’t even biodegrade- they photodegrade, meaning they produce toxic chemicals that get absorbed into the soil.
- In the short term, our aim is to reduce the use of plastic bags on campus by introducing reusable cloth bags. And in the long term, we would like to completely eliminate the use of plastic bags on campus and improve the environmental sustainability at Kent State university.
- We would like to eliminate plastic bag use at the dining halls and bookstore here on KSU’s main campus. We would like to begin implementation of the project this upcoming spring, in 2014. And we will require collaboration with the Kent State University’s dining services and bookstore to implement the project as well as students to actively partake in the switch from plastic bags to totes.
- Environmental sustainability is understanding the impact each individual has on the environment. It relates the three P’s: people, planet, and property. Environmental issues are viewed from a local and global scale and decisions are made in order to preserve the ability of the environment to support the needs of future generations. We would like to eliminate plastic bags on campus largely because their continued production and use is so harmful to the environment. Community-based social marketing is a marketing theory based on the thought that in order to bring about sustainable change, it is necessary to alter people’s attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs and to offer some form of incentive for doing so. Community based social marketing strives to actually change the behavior of communities to reduce their impact on the environment. In the case of our proposal, we initially had students take surveys to determine their stance on the use of plastic vs tote bags, which will be talked about later, but we would need to make sure that people not only recognize that plastic bags are harmful to the environment but actively provide methods for the students to change their behavior and stop using the plastic bags. http://www.imdb.com/media/rm907120384/tt0332452
- As college students, there were several limitations we faced. The first was a financial limitation; we were only able to spend up to $50 in gathering supplies and materials. Transportation was a limitation as our ability to travel for interviews and resources varied based on the day of week and time of day. Our time frame for this project was limited, as we began research on October 28th and concluded by December 4th.
- In order to provide the most accurate, specific data, we imposed several limitations upon ourselves. The population taken into consideration was limited to current Kent State main campus faculty and students. While plastic bags are distributed in a variety of locations on campus, the only locations taken into consideration for this study were the markets at Rosie’s, Prentice, and Eastway, as well as the campus bookstore.
- Should the university choose to implement with program, students will benefit. They will have an increased knowledge of sustainability, as they will gain a better understanding of the impact individuals have upon the environment. Students will have the opportunity to express themselves creatively by participating in the design competition. The winning design will be featured on the reusable bags. The reusable bags will be available for each of the students, and he or she can use them on or off campus. When using them on campus, they will have the opportunity to receive incentives for doing so. These could potentially be one of the following: a small discount on the purchase total, a donation to charity, or FlashPerks points.
- Student are not the only ones who can benefit from this program; the university as a whole will also benefit. The university will have the opportunity to place an advertisement on the reusable bag. This could be an advertisement for a specific department, organization, or event, or even the university’s logo. This would be a great way to further brand Kent State as a green university. The university will also save money long term as there will be less plastic bags to purchase. Finally, sustainable “Go Green” campuses are a big draw for prospective students and community members. By implementing this program, the university will be furthering their current sustainability initiatives, which can lead to receiving further awards, recognition, and appreciation for sustainability efforts.
- The most essential part to our data gathering process was the interviews that we conducted to gain a better understanding of some of the obstacles that we would face during the implementation of our project. Some of the individuals that we were able to interview were: Mary Kate Gallagher, a student senate member at Ohio University who served as a chair of the culinary services development committee during the university’s plastic bag campaign in 2012. Emily Decremer, a member of California’s campaign against the Plastic Plague, an organization that focuses on the harmful effects of plastic bags on the environment. Leah Graham, the recycling coordinator at Kent State and Melanie Knowles, Kent’s manager of sustainability. RIchard Roldan, the head of Dining services at Kent who was also accompanied by various other managers of dining halls/ markets across Kent’s campus. Jacob Lyonsfield and Ryan Halvorson, seniors at Washington University in St. Louis who implemented a similar program on their campus called “Tote Green” that worked to implement reusable bags on campus and eliminate the use of plastic bags. We also gained valuable data from survey results that we collected towards the early stages of our project. We composed small surveys of 11 multiple choice and short answer questions and collected a total of 204 responses from Kent State students and faculty.
- The survey also provided additional information about the volume of plastic bags that are used on campus. 92% of the students said that they use plastic bags when shopping at the campus markets and bookstore. The average bags that are used per week is 3.93 per student. From this data, we can estimate that the campus distributes approximately 24,366 bags per week to students living on campus. Although only about 8% of students currently use reusable bags on campus, 80% of students expressed interest in using the bags if they were provided to them. This gives us hope that this program will be able to decrease such an excessive use of plastic bags on Kent’s campus.
- The main focus of the survey was to get an idea of how interested students would be in our program if we were to get reusable bags implemented on campus. Towards the end of the survey, we asked the question “If the university provided you with a reusable bag for purchases, would you use it?”. We also asked the students what kind of incentive would be most appealing to them to encourage the use of these bags on campus. We gave them three options to choose from: a small discount off the purchasing total, the university donating 5 cents to a local charity, or Flashperk points.
- Fromthe 204 surveys that we collected, 80% of the students said that they would be willing to use a reusable bag to do their shopping on campus. When offered the possible incentives 48% said that they would like to recieve a disount off of their purchasing total, 41% said that they would like the university to donate 5 cents to a local charity, and 11% said that they would like to recieve flashperks for using a reusable bag.
- The enthusiasm needed for this project to be successful is definitely there. As we set out researching, our only big worry was finance. We considered several options to help minimize the cost of distributing reusable bags across campus; we’ve considered applying for grants. We’ve also considered selling them in the markets for a small fee. Mr. Roldan, in our interview with himself and several colleagues and market managers, offered to purchase and sell the bags in the markets, virtually solving our monetary problem. We also discussed selective distribution of the bags. Mr. Roldan was open to the idea of distributing bags to all students who purchase a meal plan, possibly just deducting the several dollars from their meal plan balance. Another suggestion, which came from Mr. Stith, training manager at The Hub, was for the university to include the bags in all Welcome Weekend boxes for freshmen. For the program to be a success, we recommend several ways to encourage student involvement and interest; one way to generate buzz about the project is the competition for the design of the bag. A prize would be involved, and Mr. Roldan has generously volunteered to provide that prize. We’ve mentioned the incentives that could be offered to students who use reusable bags. Regardless of which option is implemented, we believe it will generate student interest and support. Lastly, we’ve also thought about offering a bag share. Simply stated, there would be drop boxes in the markets and halls where students could leave bags they no longer want or need, and where students could pick up a bag of their own.
- In summary, we believe that the introduction of reusable bags on campus is necessary, and we would like to see them begin to emerge on campus as early as fall 2014. We would like for reusable bags to replace the common use of plastic as early as spring of 2015. And we believe that with the tremendous support being shown by both students and faculty, we can achieve this goal. Thank you.