New recycling bins move USC closer to sustainability goals

As you walk around campus, you may have seen new grey multistream recycling bins which are part of President Folt’s vision for increasing sustainability efforts at USC. Sophia Soo has the story.

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Since 2018, USC has partnered with Republic Services to handle waste management on campus. Now, USC has a new sustainable goal in mind: to move towards the city’s goal of 90 percent waste diversion by 2025.

To help with this, USC has implemented sustainability bins on campus. These grey bins require individuals to separate compost, landfill, and recycle. And so far, there’s been a dramatic decrease in waste on campus, which is in line with USC’s 2028 Sustainability Plan. Here’s Francisca Muggerud, a Cinematic and Media Studies sophomore on what she thinks about the bins:

FRANCISCA MUGGERUD: Having these bins instead of regular trash cans around campus is definitely like doing something and promoting environmentally safe ways of throwing away your trash, more so than just having regular bins.

However, she does talk about what USC could do to further sustainability efforts.

FRANCISCA MUGGERUD: There are also some parts of campus that I feel like don’t have them. Like they’re just, you know, some regular trash bins I feel like in certain parts of the campus. So, I feel like if they replaced every trash can, especially like in buildings where we have classes, like, with smaller versions of the sustainability bins, then we wouldn’t have a choice except to, like, categorize our trash.

But students have other ideas on how to get the word out about these new bins. Miles Collins, a sophomore in business administration shares how the campus can utilize social media as a way to reach students.

MILES COLLINS: The best way that they could spread more awareness is, you know, stay current with social media. College students always are on their phones, are being busy, maybe putting up fliers around campus and making sure that the word gets out there.

But it’s not just about the likes and shares. Collins believes we should all be paying attention to these sustainability efforts.

MILES COLLINS: There’s no planet B. There is no, you know, alternative except the one that we have now. So it’s best that we take care of it.

As the University celebrates Green Week, let’s see how these recycling efforts pair with the school’s other eco-friendly events.

MILES COLLINS: Go green or go home.

For Annenberg media, I’m Sophia Soo.