Concept 3 "Awareness": All of the ways you plan to raise awareness about recycling glass are smart! Questions and thoughts I had: Who would own managing these communications consistently moving forward? Would you ask Net Impact to take this on? How can you ensure students are reminded to recycle class after we 2nd years leave? One of your constraints was about the difficulty associated with terming where communication would be most effective. Could you survey the student body to determine what questions they have, and how they prefer to obtain their information? Is there some sort of incentive you could provide students to encourage them use the recycling methods we have in place, that could be communicated in ODN, signage, TV screens, etc.? Have you considered how the other Vanderbilt schools (grad schools, undergrad, etc.) handle communicating their recycling offerings?
I think that this entire problem should not only be tackled by Owen. What about all other schools at Vanderbilt? Getting all others to recycle glass will also increase the university's bargaining power. The public garbage collection may then be willing to collect and recycle the bottles. It is true that OSGA may neither have the strongest incentive nor bargaining power to effectively tackle this problem. However, with Net Impact's intentions in mind, I would ask them to address this issue. It seems like this topic perfectly fits to their agenda. As already stated, I would strongly encourage them to not only focus on Owen. The small size of the school may lead to some people thinking that "we can't change the world anyways", thus reducing student commitment and ultimately the willingness to recycle.
Concept 3 - I think awareness and execution is key here in order to get your problem solved. You may have found in your discovery process that glass recycling receptacles (Concept 1) are available in the parking garage of Owen. The constraint I see is that there is not currently a collection container IN the building (Lobby or 2nd floor) that states it is for glass recycling. There is a bin under the horseshoe that is for glass, but no one is responsible for emptying it downstairs. Overall, I forsee a few more constraints than you identified. First, when adding bin(s) to deposit glass bottles, my guess is you would have to work with Sybil and the union cleaning contractors to take the glass to the recycling bin in the garage. I think another constraint when is comes to awareness and adoption is time and appealing to the various groups of students who may not have an incentive or understanding to recycle. The upside is that students are already in the habit of recycling plastic and aluminum (for the most part) therefore if it can be integrated in to the current receptacle system, adoption and awareness becomes more natural. I think this is really important wish you success in getting this accomplished!
I think awareness is a big issues with glass recycling. If the signage communicates the simplicity of glass recycling through Owen, then there is a chance to help make it successful. Beyond communicating the simplicity and raising the awareness, I think that for this plan to be successful, you need to have some type of incentive for a trial by users. Users need to be convinced to change their habits (either throwing away glass or recycling it at home), and I would venture to guess that just raising awareness will not drastically change their recycling habits.
Involving Net Impact or OSGA is a great way to get other stakeholders involved in the initiative. One challenge would be the resources these groups have to increase glass bottle recycling. Can they get funds for new recycling bins at Owen? Do they have the time to manage glass bottle recycling? Are there competing priorities for these groups that would take precedence over glass bottle recycling? While I think the initiative is consistent with their goals, anticipating these constraints and preempting them with solutions could be beneficial before you try to sell them on the idea of recycling glass bottles.
Concept 3 - Awareness is a likely to be a key factor in the success of your project, so it's good that you're considering it so heavily up front like this. However, as a standalone solution, the concept does not necessarily solve the problem. Implementation/execution (where will the glass bins go; who is responsible for emptying them; etc.) is going to be a bigger challenge, so while education and awareness will be important once you've figured out the execution, it won't help much without the rest of the story.
Concept 3 Awareness should be a big concern about this project and all solutions in concept 3 are easy to implement. The remaining concern is that this project starts the glass cycling habit at Owen and it should also keep this habit going on. Who should be responsible for all communications and all other related works after this class is over should be identified and assigned.
Concept 3 "Awareness": All of the ways you plan to raise awareness about recycling glass are smart! Questions and thoughts I had:
ReplyDeleteWho would own managing these communications consistently moving forward? Would you ask Net Impact to take this on? How can you ensure students are reminded to recycle class after we 2nd years leave?
One of your constraints was about the difficulty associated with terming where communication would be most effective. Could you survey the student body to determine what questions they have, and how they prefer to obtain their information?
Is there some sort of incentive you could provide students to encourage them use the recycling methods we have in place, that could be communicated in ODN, signage, TV screens, etc.?
Have you considered how the other Vanderbilt schools (grad schools, undergrad, etc.) handle communicating their recycling offerings?
Concept 4
ReplyDeleteI think that this entire problem should not only be tackled by Owen. What about all other schools at Vanderbilt? Getting all others to recycle glass will also increase the university's bargaining power. The public garbage collection may then be willing to collect and recycle the bottles.
It is true that OSGA may neither have the strongest incentive nor bargaining power to effectively tackle this problem. However, with Net Impact's intentions in mind, I would ask them to address this issue. It seems like this topic perfectly fits to their agenda. As already stated, I would strongly encourage them to not only focus on Owen. The small size of the school may lead to some people thinking that "we can't change the world anyways", thus reducing student commitment and ultimately the willingness to recycle.
Concept 3 - I think awareness and execution is key here in order to get your problem solved. You may have found in your discovery process that glass recycling receptacles (Concept 1) are available in the parking garage of Owen. The constraint I see is that there is not currently a collection container IN the building (Lobby or 2nd floor) that states it is for glass recycling. There is a bin under the horseshoe that is for glass, but no one is responsible for emptying it downstairs.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I forsee a few more constraints than you identified. First, when adding bin(s) to deposit glass bottles, my guess is you would have to work with Sybil and the union cleaning contractors to take the glass to the recycling bin in the garage. I think another constraint when is comes to awareness and adoption is time and appealing to the various groups of students who may not have an incentive or understanding to recycle. The upside is that students are already in the habit of recycling plastic and aluminum (for the most part) therefore if it can be integrated in to the current receptacle system, adoption and awareness becomes more natural. I think this is really important wish you success in getting this accomplished!
Concept 3:
ReplyDeleteI think awareness is a big issues with glass recycling. If the signage communicates the simplicity of glass recycling through Owen, then there is a chance to help make it successful. Beyond communicating the simplicity and raising the awareness, I think that for this plan to be successful, you need to have some type of incentive for a trial by users. Users need to be convinced to change their habits (either throwing away glass or recycling it at home), and I would venture to guess that just raising awareness will not drastically change their recycling habits.
Concept 4
ReplyDeleteInvolving Net Impact or OSGA is a great way to get other stakeholders involved in the initiative. One challenge would be the resources these groups have to increase glass bottle recycling. Can they get funds for new recycling bins at Owen? Do they have the time to manage glass bottle recycling? Are there competing priorities for these groups that would take precedence over glass bottle recycling? While I think the initiative is consistent with their goals, anticipating these constraints and preempting them with solutions could be beneficial before you try to sell them on the idea of recycling glass bottles.
Concept 3 -
ReplyDeleteAwareness is a likely to be a key factor in the success of your project, so it's good that you're considering it so heavily up front like this. However, as a standalone solution, the concept does not necessarily solve the problem. Implementation/execution (where will the glass bins go; who is responsible for emptying them; etc.) is going to be a bigger challenge, so while education and awareness will be important once you've figured out the execution, it won't help much without the rest of the story.
Concept 3
ReplyDeleteAwareness should be a big concern about this project and all solutions in concept 3 are easy to implement. The remaining concern is that this project starts the glass cycling habit at Owen and it should also keep this habit going on. Who should be responsible for all communications and all other related works after this class is over should be identified and assigned.