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Waste team digs through dumpsters to audit beginning-of-year trash statistics

SLUH’s very own Waste Team—better known by their moniker, the “Trash Boys”—conducted their first trash audit of the year last week. On a mission to uncover the unflattering disposal of recyclable and compostable waste, the Waste Team conducted a trash audit to find disparities in our community’s disposal of lunch waste. 

Leo Smith and Troy Pugh sort through trash Photo: Kathy Chott

The trash audit is where the members of the Waste Team take all the trash bins from the Commons at the end of the day and sort out the trash recycling and compostables. With the trash sorted, the Waste Team weighed all the compostables, trash, and recycling. The results left much to be desired with an overwhelming amount of compostable and recyclable items thrown away in the trash. 

“Last Thursday, if everyone would have recycled and composted properly, we would have only filled up one trash can halfway, instead of filling up six,” said senior Troy Pugh. 

The trash audit found only 26 pounds of actual trash in the trash cans. An outstanding 246 pounds of compostables were misplaced. In total, only 48 of the 84 recyclable bottles were recycled, the rest thrown in the trash. On a larger scale, only 295 of a possible 414 recyclable cans made it to the recycling bin. In two days, students threw away 119 recyclable cans in the trash. Along with the bottles there were 13 untouched sandwiches, 6 unwrapped bars, and 2 unpeeled bananas. 

“The most enjoyable part of the process was just figuring out how much unnecessary waste people throw away,” said Pugh. “There’s a lot of compost that’s thrown away every day; for example, the aluminum-looking sandwich wrappers that can be composted.”

“It was honestly just really weird looking at what we found,” said junior Sean Henry. “What particularly stood out was an item we found in the recycle bin which was just a whole lunch in a bag with just one apple core. It was bizarre.”

A recent study conducted by Greenpeace International, a global climate network, found that less than five percent of plastic waste was actually recycled in the United States. This figure holds true within the trash audit and speaks to the larger problem existing within our country around waste management.

Through school-side seminars in the past, the Sustainability Team at SLUH has stressed the importance of being mindful. Much of the waste seen can only be eliminated through the actions of the students and faculty. Even with the steps taken in the past by administration, there is still a growing problem with waste management at SLUH.

“It’s important to be mindful of what you throw away,” said Pugh. “It doesn't take much out of our day to just stop, look at what we’re holding, and throw it away. Leftover food can always be composted, almost every plastic and metal can be recycled; we just need to be mindful.”

“As a school we just need to put in a small amount of effort, it really will go a long way,” said Henry. “Just making sure you’re composting, making sure you’re recycling. Almost everything you buy here from the school can either be composted or recycled minus chip bags and stuff. That little bit of effort can go a long way.”

              Going forward, the Waste Team is planning to coordinate with the Science Department to educate the student body about the importance of composting. The Waste Team plans to conduct more trash audits to see if there are any changes in the future. Currently, SLUH does not monitor the levels of waste on campus, which is a problem the waste audits hope to solve.

“We could possibly do more frequent trash audits to better understand the problem,” said Henry. “One of the other things is updating the images behind the trash and recycling bins. They’re really little changes but the students need to carry it the rest of the way.”

SLUH’s Jesuit mission stresses the importance of being stewards for the environment which is highlighted by the importance of waste reduction initiatives like the trash audit. Reducing the amount of waste and limiting its impact on the environment was highlighted in Laudato Si, a letter released by Pope Francis, which asked Catholics to take care of our common home. In following this mission, the Waste Team hopes that the SLUH student body will become more conscientious in their disposal of trash.

 

 


 

 

 

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