Why did you join this program?
Frankly, because I like the color green. Obviously theres a little more to it than that—I joined the living wall project because I have an interest in sustainable development, environmental protection, and food security. As a plus, I happen to enjoy gardening! Much of my work towards sustainability has been sequestered to small personal choices. I have made many attempts to reduce the amount of trash I create, using reusable products and avoiding single use plastics and the like. To further reduce the impact my lifestyle has on the planet I also eat a predominantly plant based diet, try to use plant based products (in skin care and housewares like candles), and try my best to eat food that is locally sourced reducing transportation pollution. These steps I’m learning have a larger impact than I had previously thought, but I know that changing my lifestyle alone won’t make much of an impact on climate change. By being part of a large project that is focused not simply on reducing waste, but changing the way we think of development as a whole is another way to focus my energy in sustainability. This is an opportunity to affect other’s impact, not simply my own, and a chance to leave my mark on Lehigh.
How do you envision this course making you a better Biology student and professional?
This is the first project I have been part of as a biology student that has a distinct real world impact. Throughout my studies in biology I have done plentiful research into the minutia of biochemistry, microbiology, and many more subjects within the broad reach of the biological sciences. However, much of my research has either been done before and already been published, or it was such a small focus that it held little sway in the grand scheme of life. The living wall project is a chance to make something lasting, do something important, and see impact that reaches actual consumers, not simply a professor’s red grading pen.
Ideally, this project will offer me an opportunity to experience criticism from more than just my peers, but my actual audience. Doing small research projects has allowed me to understand the scientific method and laboratory procedure, but it has not offered me an opportunity to experience feedback that would shape my project into a consumer ready product or idea. These are life skills I would need, whether I end up working in the lab for a biotech company or in a distillery. The CSIF projects combine some of the most important characteristics of professional development that are oft lost in education, the personal drive behind the goals, and the sort-of consumer facing nature of the projects that offer a more work like experience than found in a classroom setting.
Mattress Recycling
Step one is making a map of all mattress recycling facilities. On this map we would draw circles around each facility with radiuses of acceptable driving distance, lets say 30 miles. Within these circles nothing would change—it is assumed that people who live within a 30 mile radius of a mattress recycling facility are willing to bring their mattress to the facility.
Outside of this radius, there need to be several things that need to happen to get mattresses recycled. To start, this could involve building more mattress recycling facilities. If there is any money to build more facilities, either through government funding or private funding, more facilities would increase the number of people reached significantly, depending on where the new facility is placed. New recycling facilities should be built in locations that would allow populations with little to no access to the current facilities a significantly reduced distance of travel and overall level of effort needed to recycle their mattress. However, building new facilities may be outside the financial capabilities of the Mattress Recycling Council, so the focus of the solutions should likely be in creating drop of sites and pick up schedules that transport mattresses from secondary locations to the recycling facilities. If a town has a drop off ‘bin,’ a pick-up time could be scheduled, and the mattress recycling facility would send trucks to the various pick up locations outside their radius, and bring these mattresses back to the facility. These would have stewards—someone who notifies the facility that mattresses need picking up. Ideally, there would be enough drop off sites so that we could greatly increase the number of people who have to drive less than 30 miles to drop off mattresses.
Another part of this is advertising and incentivizing. People may have these resources easily available to them, but it may not be aware or interested in participating. Our assumption about people within radius of recycling facilities was that they are willing to bring their mattresses in, which isn’t a fair assessment. Some people may be physically unable, uninterested in recycling, or unaware of the program at all. So, advertising and incentivization must be employed to encourage people to participate in the program.