Waste has become routine in our daily lives. A mindless action for most, that has been ingrained into American culture. Because of this, I believe this composting bin allows individuals to become active citizens in our community, due to the bins allowing citizens to interact with the waste system and recognize trash is not aways this single use thing with a destination only to a landfill.
Resource characteristics
The resource system for the new bins located at Northern Neck would be the waste management system. In this system, the lifetime of a product/ products packing is considered, i.e. the material used, how long that material takes to break down, and the toxicity of the material. These aspects of waste management deal with natural resources, man-made material, and air. “Because U.S recycling was dependent on China for so many years, our domestic recycling infrastructure was never developed, so there was no economical or efficient way to handle recycling when the market disappeared” (Cho, 2020) This dependence has been the biggest down fall of the U.S. causing contamination making in near impossible for facilities to operate efficiently. This usually mean what meant to be recycled end up “being incinerated, deposited in landfills or washed into the ocean” (Cho, 2020)
Governance/user characteristics
municipality waste management systems are primarily involved in waste management, but not internally, especially because local government institutions resist regionalization of solid waste management. (Hickman, 1993) This is why in 2016 we saw “the U.S export(ed) 16 million tons of plastic, paper, and metals to China” (Cho. 2020) With this resistance, we sis an off shoring of our waste to other countries. This is also why with see private businesses like Teracycle created.
Social/Cultural/economic/political/pollical setting or related ecosystems
A major factor that plays a role in this system is cultural factors. Culturally we have blinders on when it comes to the production of waste. We only consider how the item we are using exist in our life but we don’t consider what happens after it has left our possession.
What can we do?
Culturally the new bins at Northern Neck could have a major impact on how we see trash. With this bin, it is now not just something that goes in a bin labeled trash or recycling, now the item is something that can be composted, what is recyclable must be sorted into glass or paper and bottles and cans. This slow steps towards better waste management allows individuals to learn about the complexity of waste management. Hopefully we can move towards a system like South Korea which “recycles about 54 percent of its trash, including 95 percent of its food waste” (Cho, 2020)
Location of the Human-Environment interaction
References
Cho, R. (2022, October 18). Recycling in the U.S. is broken. how do we fix it? State of the Planet. Retrieved November 9, 2022, from https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/03/13/fix-recycling-america/
Hickman, H. L. (1993). Regionalizing municipal solid waste management. Ekistics, 60(358/359), 30–39. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43623674
Water Usage in Eastern Shore, A Panacea for Water Waste
This project’s target area is the water usage in George Mason University residential hall, Eastern Shore. Water demand and usage management is critical to the conservation of natural ecosystems and management of human resources. The primary sources of water demand in Eastern Shore stems from sink and toilet usage that produces both grey and black wastewater. Toilet usage accounts for between 26 to 41 percent of the average household’s water usage (Uelmen et al., 2020). Older toilet fixtures are extremely water and energy inefficient. Additionally, there are many preexisting sink faucets that have yet to be replaced with more efficient fixtures in the residential halls. Another contributor to water waste in Eastern Shore is poor personal practices and behaviors. College students have been found to use 21.5 percent more water than the average American (Uelmen et al., 2020). Water usage on a university campus is similar to that of a medium sized city (Soares et al., 2021). By replacing antiquated sink fixtures with more efficient models, replacing toilets with ultra-low flush toilets (ULFT) equipped with dual flush systems, and providing more educational resources to residential students, water waste can be greatly reduced in the Eastern Shore residential hall.
Resource Characteristics and Interactions
Water waste decreases available water resources for ecological systems and puts pressure on sewage systems (Melville-Shreeve et al., 2021). In extreme circumstances, excessive water waste can cause aquifer depletion (EPA, 2017). Depleted aquifers can lower lake levels, harm aquatic wildlife and riparian vegetation (EPA, 2017). Stressors on aquifers and ground water sources are increasing because of changes in the Earth’s climate (EPA, 2017). Water usage is important to monitor and manage when possible in order to reduce the possible depletion of aquifers (EPA, 2017). Increased water usage can also place excessive pressure on sewage systems. This pressure can cause backages, drastically increase the energy used in treating sewage water, and force municipalities to expand sewage systems sooner (Melville-Shreeve et al., 2021).
Cultural Settings and User Characteristics
College students use a much higher percentage of water than average Americans (Uelmen et al., 2020). George Mason University charges students flat rates for housing that include utility bills. Because utility rates do not increase with increased use, residential students are more wasteful and use more water. Helping educate students on better water usage habits while early in their time residing in the dorms can help them develop better habits for the remainder of their residency and in their future lifestyles (Uelmen et al., 2020). However, when students are not educated on better water usage habits, water waste can increase greatly throughout a year. Many of these poor habits include excessive water use in dish washing, not turning off the faucet while teeth brushing, and turning the water pressure unnecessarily high. These poor habits are developed with a lack of education on better practices and little investment in reducing usage via utility costs.
What Can We Do?
Toilet fixtures in Eastern Shore are currently low volume systems. These toilets meet current US federal standards of 1.6 gallons of water per flush. However, these systems can be improved with ULFT dual flush systems. Water demand management systems can greatly reduce water usage and reduce pressure on sewage networks (Melville-Shreeve et al., 2021). Dual flush systems allow users to choose between regular flush strength and a much lighter flush. This gives users the ability to reduce water use per flush when possible. Dual flush systems can reduce water usage by allowing users to choose the regular, larger flush strength only when necessary (Melville-Shreeve et al., 2021). Upgraded toilets can reduce water usage by 54 percent and reduce utility bills per unit by roughly $2,380 over the life of the unit (Uelmen et al., 2020).
University policy on replacing sink faucets and fixtures focuses on waiting out the life cycle of existing features and replacing them with newer, more efficient faucets only after existing fixtures have broken. The current model for transition to more efficient sink faucets is too slow. By replacing all sink faucets over a break or between semesters when residential halls are empty and uninhabited, water waste and usage can be immediately reduced. By completing sink fixture updates, water usage could be reduced by up to 18 percent (Soares et al., 2021).
Eastern Shore residential halls provide very little educational resources for residential students. Small stickers asking students to reduce time spent in the shower are placed inside of suite bathrooms above light switches. However, these stickers are insufficient to educate students on the many ways of reducing water waste and usage. These stickers also provide very little reasoning as to why reducing water usage is important in the conservation of ecological systems. Additional educational resources are available; however, these resources are underutilized and low in effectiveness. Students who are new to residential halls should be provided with more accessible and more in-depth educational resources to help students understand how to reduce water waste and why. Understanding the environmental impacts of water usage is an important step in increasing student involvement with sustainable habit development and participation. By providing informational fliers or pamphlets with more detailed information could greatly improve student involvement.
References
Melville-Shreeve, P., Cotterill, S., Newman, A., & Butler, D. (2021). Campus Study of the Impact of Ultra-Low Flush Toilets on Sewerage Networks and Water Usage. Water, 13, 419. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/w13040419
Soares, A. E., Silva, J., Nunes, L. G., Ribeiro, M., & Silva, S. (2021). Water conservation potential within higher education institutions: Lessons from a Brazilian university. Urban Water Journal, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2021.2013903
Uelmen, J., Aley, I., Nehls, B., & Hicks, A. (2020). Sustainability Impacts of Installing Low-Flow Toilets in a University Residence Hall. Sustainability, 13, 74–80. https://doi.org/10.1089/sus.2019.0030
