Updated Recycling Bin Stickers Funding Proposal

This funding proposal was written to secure funding for a project I helped lead as the president of Green Billiken, my university's student sustainability organization.

What criteria does your proposal fit?

“Provides an opportunity to challenge or explore new/different ideas.”

• Recycling is a skill and, unfortunately, many of us are never taught the correct way to recycle. The stickers currently on recycling bins around campus reflect what most people believe to be true about recycling, which is that it can and should be done thoughtlessly (hence “When in doubt recycle”). Our new stickers promote the message “Recycle with confidence” which invokes a sense of attainable personal responsibility. This message also encourages individuals to challenge their current ideas about recycling and learn more about what can actually be recycled to allow them confidence when deciding what to throw away and what to recycle.

“Creates an opportunity to promote social justice.”

• It is well documented that environmental degradation has a larger impact on marginalized groups than it does other community members. Because recycling contamination reduces the efficacy of recycling, it leads to more waste in landfills and greater environmental effects. By improving recycling efforts on campus, we are contributing to a healthier environment which is an act of social justice because of the magnitude at which marginalized community members are affected by environmental harms.

“Embraces SLU’s mission, and/or Jesuit identity.”

• As a Jesuit institution with social justice values, sustainability is an important part of SLU’s mission. This is made clear even within the larger catholic church, as the Pope recently put out the Laudato si’, which is a document that outlines environmental goals to ensure “care for our common home". SLU has since signed on to the Laudato Si' Action Platform for Jesuit institutions, which has committed us to seven-years of improving our sustainability efforts as a part of our Jesuit mission. And while SLU has greatly improved its practices within recent years by making the ongoing effort to live up to its reputation after being granted certifications (i.e, LEED) and awards for its sustainable practices, it is clear that the University falls far behind others like our counterpart of Wash U who was named in the "Top 50 Green Colleges" by The Princeton Review. In our call to be people for others, sustainability and care for our natural environment are an important part of nurturing God’s creation and are essential to SLU’s ability to fulfill our Jesuit mission.

The stickers on campus recycling bins we were looking to replace.

Scope of the Project: What is your proposal requesting? What issue is your project hoping to address? (Please be specific)

We are requesting funds to buy new stickers for the recycling bins around campus. The current stickers promote a slogan (“When in doubt, recycle”) that encourages recycling contamination via carelessness in waste disposal, which makes it harder for properly recycled items to get recycled. Recycling, as a whole, is a broken system, partly thanks to the lack of knowledge individuals have about how to recycle properly. Our goal is to improve this system and ensure that its benefits are being felt, both on campus and in our surrounding community. St. Louis, despite being a relatively urban, progressive city is only recycling about 10% of what its facilities receive and the percentage of non-recyclables getting mixed in is almost equal to the amount of items that are actually recyclable. By replacing the old stickers, we are trying to ensure the process runs a little more efficiently and attempting to prevent the University and its students from remaining complacent in sustainability efforts. Our new stickers use a carefully crafted message (“Recycle with confidence”) that seeks to reduce recycling contamination by promoting personal responsibility in collective action, that is an active attempt to reverse the effects of a human-made problem, by encouraging individuals to take responsibility for their own actions and reflect on their effects. The goal is to ultimately have better recycling outcomes on campus and encourage students to learn more about recycling, thus improving the overall climate of sustainability on campus and limiting our effect on the environment.

The proposed new recycling bin stickers.

Target Population: Who will be affected by/participating in your project?

All campus community members who use on-campus recycling bins will be affected by and will participate in this project. 

Project Timeline: When are you hoping to execute your project?  What are the major milestones for its completion?

We are planning to execute this project by the end of semester. We spent last semester working on the sticker redesign, which has been approved by campus Facilities. The next step will be to order the stickers by the beginning of April to allow adequate time for the stickers to be made and placed on recycling bins around campus before the semester ends.

Project Environment: Where will the event take place? How will the location be secured?

As this is not an event, there will be no need to secure a location. We have already been in discussion with Facilities to ensure that we are allowed to replace the recycling bin stickers on campus with our new design.

Project Stakeholders: Who will be involved in executing the project? What student groups, faculty, staff, or outside personnel will contribute to the project’s execution? (Includes event staff, catering, faculty/student group sponsors, etc.)

Campus Facilities, in addition to Green Billikens and SGA SusCo, will be participating in the execution of replacing the stickers on campus.

Project Publicity: How will you market your project? How will you promote knowledge of your project to ensure success?

To ensure we draw enough attention to the new stickers/slogan, we will promote them on our social media pages and within our GroupMes. We also plan to promote the new stickers with signs on screens around campus so that as many people as possible have the chance to notice the change in recycling slogan that will contribute to their learning about how to recycle properly. Finally, we plan to host multiple events celebrating Earth Day, and the promotion of the new stickers will be a major focus.

​​Project Metrics: How will you measure the success of the project? How will you determine if it is a successful event?

We will be able to determine the success of our project by the levels of recycling contamination on campus. This can be done visually, as it is usually clear when walking by a campus recycling bin how contaminated with non-recyclable waste it is. We can also work with Facilities, who work closely with waste on campus, to understand if recycling contamination has improved after the placement of the new stickers.

Project Risks: What are the risks, barriers, and/or other impediments that could influence the success of your event?

One barrier we have already encountered is the cost of the stickers. In order to replace every sticker on campus, we would need at least $13,500. To circumvent this barrier, we are only asking for $5,000 and planning to strategically place the stickers we buy in the highest traffic areas of campus to ensure they are seen. Other barriers could include people being too used to their recycling habits to notice and be influenced by the new stickers or the stickers not being placed on the most visible part of the recycling bin. We are planning for this barrier by ensuring that we properly promote the new stickers so that community members know to look for them.