Encouragement of paper efficiency amongst students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Jacqueline Brunelli, Dawn Burstein, Kasey Francica, Alexander Sghia-Hughes, Conor Sjogren

Opening

Imagine a landfill, spreading a great distance in every direction, including up. Now picture that 40% of that landfill is something we dispose of every day without hesitation – paper. Believe it or not, paper makes up almost half of our landfills, while more than half of it is capable of being recycled. So, in an effort to decrease the rate of expansion of landfills and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, we are proposing that Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) expands its recycling and paper reduction program.

Opening (Continued)

• This project is meant to target RPI students as it is noted that they are the biggest contributors to this issue. (According to Susan Garrigan-Piela, Business Manager for the school of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences)

• We hope that this advocacy project will inspire the students, faculty, and staff to act in a more eco-friendly manner and eventually expand this proposal outside the walls of RPI.

Closing

• This advocacy project has already been implemented and found successful at other Universities. (i.e. University of California, Berkeley)

• While most people assume that recycling paper is minimal and negligible, our hope is to convince the student and staff at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute otherwise.

• Our advocacy project proposal offers significant benefits of recycling (lower energy costs, greenhouse gas reduction, etc.), as well as the benefits of purchasing recycled paper (cost beneficial, quality paper, etc.).