By Anonymous
Express Market, located in the Johnson Center, acts as a limited grocery store for off campus students and residential students. This is home to many snacks, food for meals, drinks, and homeware like dish soap, laundry detergent, and toilet paper; However, it is also home to many single use plastics, as most of these name brand items being sold come wrapped in soft and hard plastics. Due to its proximity to residential students, it is possible that express market acts as their main grocery provider for housewares, meaning when they buy their groceries, they get their items and leave with all single use plastics that they are contributing to the problem of plastic waste. Plastic like this along with other packaging waste account for about 30% of total annual waste, contributing to the 34.5 million tons of plastic waste generated annually (EPA 2017), and in this case, George Mason is at the root of it.
George Mason University has many different initiatives dedicated to combatting single use plastic like creating opportunities for reusable containers and using recycled materials for to go dinnerware (PGF Recipients, nd.) Although their use of environmentally friendly techniques has reduced plastic usage, at the express market they are promoting the consumption of plastic encased food with no given alternatives. The intention of the selling of plastic is unclear in a social context, although the impact of covid may have resulted in the emphasis on “more safe packaging”.
The promotion of buying these plastic encased groceries can be very problematic due to the environmental promotion at GMU, so the implementation of environmentally friendly alternatives would be of benefit to all sides of the community. The addition of a zero-waste grocery store in place of the express market can dramatically decrease the amount of plastic being sold to the students. Studies show that zero-waste stores can result in less carbon emissions than a conventional grocery store and results in less waste (Jin et. al, 2021). The use of this type of market can provide sustainable alternatives to plastic usage and raise awareness for other environmental initiatives around campus.
References
Accounting for Reductions: The Carbon Footprint of a Zero Waste Grocery Store. (n.d.). UCSB Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://bren.ucsb.edu/projects/accounting-reductions-carbon-footprint-zero-waste-grocery-store
PGF Recipients – University Sustainability. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://green.gmu.edu/patriot-green-fund/pgf-recipients/
US EPA, O. (2017, September 7). Containers and Packaging: Product-Specific Data [Data and Tools]. https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/containers-and-packaging-product-specific