Zero Waste Wolves: A Fight for Sustainability on Campus | culture

During the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the university produced 16,072,000 pounds of waste. Of that total, 7,799,140 pounds of waste ended up in the landfill, 48.5% of the total. Zero Waste Wolves, a student organization on campus, is working hard to divert this waste and make NC State more sustainable.

Morgan Starnes, a fourth-year environmental technology and management student and co-president of Zero Waste Wolves, said the organization's goal is to educate students about waste management and help ensure less ends up in landfills.

“One of the most memorable things I've learned in my time here is life cycle analysis, where I look at where a product comes from, how it moves through society and where it ends up,” Starnes said. “One of the things I learned is how to reduce the impact along this entire journey, because it’s not just about the raw materials and the end of their life.”

Sporting events, particularly football, generate a large portion of the university's waste.

“I'm interning at the soccer stadium where we specifically collect compost, and we have so much compost,” said Paulina Goping, a second-year life sciences major and chair of education at Zero Waste Wolves. “We raised £800 at the last game and it’s a really big drive. There's a whole other force that takes care of landfills and recycling. An event like football can create so much waste.”

Materials that could be recycled often end up in the trash, creating a significant amount of waste that could be avoided if thrown in the right bin.

“Football games generate a lot of waste, especially recycled materials like aluminum and plastics that could easily be recycled without much effort,” said Leo Kaiser-Potter, a third-year student studying fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology and the event coordinator for Zero Waste Wolves.

NC State is already focused on recycling, particularly compost. The NC State Compost Facility and Research Cooperative can process up to 1,200 tons of organic waste per year.

“One of the things I love most about NC State is how much access we have to waste reduction resources,” said Manisha Kar, fourth-year environmental science student and co-president of Zero Waste Wolves. “For most people on this campus, making sure their waste goes to the right place will never be easier, especially considering we have our own composting facility on campus and lots of produce, food, take-out -Containers and containers are available.” and other things are made compostable. It’s never been easier.”

There are several reasons why recycling is done incorrectly or not at all. Part of this is the lack of knowledge and education about waste disposal, which student organizations are trying to overcome.

“A lot of people don’t really know where to put things, and it’s up to student organizations to figure that out — which can be really difficult because there’s an intimidating amount of people that come here — and try to make that impact. Goping said.

The benefits of recycling far outweigh the small inconvenience of finding the right place to dispose of waste material. Delaying the removal of empty cans and old boxes results in these items no longer being reusable, which defeats the purpose of recycling in the first place.

“People have lost trust in recycling, but when done right it brings huge benefits,” Kaiser-Potter said. “Throwing away alcohol is a bit of a taboo, especially in campus life. People have a lot of beer cans and crates and instead of throwing them in the recyclable trash, they just sit around until they become dirty and no longer recyclable.”

An NC State recycling guide is available online.