Reducing Waste, Promoting Reusables : The Role of Environmental Citizenship in creating a Sustainable UBC Campus
Creators: name: Wong, Faith
name: Ribeiro, Thiago
name: Molina, Ystelle
name: Tong, Naomi
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2023

description: In 2020, the University of British Columbia generated 4,635.01 tonnes of waste at the Vancouver campus (Waste, 2022). In order to reduce waste and promote sustainability, UBC has developed a Zero Waste Action Plan, which seeks to use a circular economy approach to reduce waste by 50% by 2030 (Zero Waste Action Plan | UBC Campus &amp; Community Planning, n.d.). To achieve this goal, UBC is creating a Zero Waste Food Ware Strategy which seeks to reduce the use of single-use food ware and promote the widespread adoption of reusable food ware (Zero Waste Food Ware Strategy | UBC Campus &amp; Community Planning, n.d.). In addition, the Alma Mater Society (AMS) passed the Zero Waste Food Ware Strategy and Implementation Plan in 2019 to reduce the utilization of single-use items. In collaboration with SEEDS (Social Ecological Economic Development Studies) Sustainability Program, our project seeks to support the AMS Zero Waste and sustainability initiatives by investigating strategies, barriers and opportunities for promoting the use of reusable mugs, containers and cutlery in the AMS Nest. In particular, our research focused on analyzing how a sense of environmental citizenship may affect students’ personal choices to use reusable cups or containers. According to existing literature, environmental citizenship is characterized by a sense of ethics and responsibility towards the environment and humanity at large (Sarid and Goldman, 2021). In order to investigate how a sense of environmental citizenship might influence students’ choices to use reusable food ware, we conducted a survey and interviews to gather information about students’ environmental behaviour and attitudes, and understand the factors shaping students’ use of disposable or reusable food ware. Our survey asked questions pertaining to students’ frequency of using reusable food ware, students’ barriers to using reusable food ware, motivations for using reusable food ware, and sense of responsibility towards the environment. Our interviews expanded on the survey by asking participants further questions about their sense of environmental awareness, concern about environmental issues, as well as their personal environmental behaviour and lifestyle choices. Our survey and interviews revealed that although environmental citizenship plays an important role in influencing students to use reusable food ware, convenience and financial incentives are also critical factors which affect students’ choices to use reusable food ware. Although many students demonstrated a strong sense of environmental citizenship, they did not use reusable food ware due to inconvenience and a lack of financial incentives. As such, our research reveals the importance of not only heightening students’ sense of environmental citizenship but also reducing barriers of inconvenience and providing stronger financial incentives. Based on the results of our research, we recommend that the AMS take a three-pronged approach to increase the use of reusable food ware: Promote widespread awareness of the environmental consequences of using disposable food ware, increase the convenience of using reusable food ware through the mugshare program and provision of washing stations, and provide greater discounts and other financial incentives for using reusable food ware. Altogether, our research seeks to support and enhance the AMS’ efforts to reduce waste and promote sustainability at UBC. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”