Effectiveness of Recycling at Edgewood:

Can Labeling Changes Make a Difference?
(Jessica Abel, Carrie Clum, Nicole Gluzinski, Jessica Stephens)

Link to Full Report

                    Links to:
                        Introduction
                        Hypothesis
                        Materials and Methods
                        Discussion
                        Implementing Changes
                        Suggestions for Improvement
                        Results
                        Charts and Graphs
                        Pictures of Experiment
                        Resources
                                                                                              

Introduction:
* Benefits of recycling:
        * Conservation of energy
        * Pollution reduction
        * Decrease in global climate change
        * Limited disruption of biodiversity
        * Creates jobs
* Why we chose to do our experiment on recycling:
        * Important to our way of life
        * Wanted to improve upon a previous experiment (we used their information and project for our basis)
        * Edgewood has poorly labeled classroom trashcans, compared to hallway trashcans.

* Hypothesis: More obvious labeling and different shaped container tops would improve the recycling that takes place in the classroom containers on campus.

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Materials and Methods:
* First we collected recycling and waste containers from one classroom and hallway in Predolin and Mazzucheli
* Second we removed incorrect materials from each container, reweighed the container and counted the incorrect items.
* Next we conducted a second experiment that involved covering the classroom recycling and waste containers with cardboard box tops, cutting specific holes (triangle for waste, circle for plastic, glass, and cans, and oval for paper) and labeled each clearly on the front, top and sides of the cardboard box tops.
* Lastly, we collected the containers and weighed each bag, counted the incorrect materials and reweighed the bags.   

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Discussion:
    Hallway Container Effectiveness:
        * Labeled Clearly
        * Different shapes on the top
        * Different heights
        * Different colors

How to Implement Changes:
* Contact the custodial staff
* Gain support from students, faculty, and staff within the Edgewood Community
* Reach out to people in the Wingra Watershed Community

Suggestions for Improvements:
* Collecting samples in other areas of campus
* More frequent collections
* Conduct research over a longer period of time
* Improve sorting methods
* Define which items are or are not recyclable

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Results:

* Initial Data: 90% of materials were correct in waste containers and 71 % of materials were correct in recycling container combined.

* After our Experiment: 95 % of materials were correct in waste container and 98% of materials were correct in all recycling containers combined.

Charts and Graphs:

(These graphs show the percent of correct items in the correct container for our initial weigh in (1^st weigh in) and our experiments weigh in (2^nd weigh in).

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Pictures Before Experiment:

              Hallway                                     Classroom                                  Classroom

Experimental Setup:

Links to Resources:

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/wm/recycle/reference.html

 http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/wm/recycle/

 http://madison.com

 http://www.epa.gov/osw

 http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0207004.pdf

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