1)
Each
day, too many Styrofoam and non-recyclable plastic cups are thrown away on
campus, which ends up on landfills that damage the environment. With a little bit
over 50,000 students going to the University of Florida, these plastic cups are
becoming really harmful for the environment.
2)
What
I’m proposing is that instead of using plastic cups, food companies that are
situated at the University of Florida , should use plant based, 100%
compostable cups. I don’t know if students have noticed, but these food
companies have switched from regular plastic straws, to plant based straws.
These straws are 100% compostable, which means they’re not harmful to the environment
when they’re thrown away.
a.
As
we can see with the compostable straws, making this change wouldn’t be
difficult. These cups would be made of a plant base that would still be
resistant to the liquid that would be inside.
b.
Because
they are plant based, once they’re thrown away, they would compost very quickly
and it wouldn’t release any toxic chemicals that would harm the environment.
c.
What
I want to achieve with this is to reduce the use of non-recyclable plastics and
Styrofoam on campus and promote a better option that will hopefully motivate
students into making more eco-friendly decisions.
d.
This
is something that could also be spread out to different campuses as a way of having
a bigger and bigger impact over the years.
e.
Because
of its lightness, plant-based cups are also cheap to manufacture, therefore,
food establishments would not have a negative impact on their economics,
This is an interesting concept because of the new strategies that are being enforced in modern areas such as universities. An example of this is simple practices such as restaurants only giving straws if their customers ask for them. The restaurants may fight against of your procedures because of the new expenses on their end. However, the university could potentially team with these restaurants to fund them to make sure this transition is smooth for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI loveee your idea so much!! I also noticed that the straws are compostable now at the on campus restaurants that I've been to. Having cups that are compostable is an awesome idea, especially on a college campus where a lot of students really are more progressive and care about the environment (not that adults don't care). The most important thing, I think, for the restaurants is how this will affect their profits so I think that if they looked at the pros and cons and considered how many more customers they would have from being more environmentally friendly, it might outweigh the extra cost of changing their supplies.
ReplyDeletePart e is key! Maybe your opportunity would be creating a platform that allows businesses to easily purchase these goods at a great rate. Really great idea and I think it has a lot of potential not only at UF but everywhere. The straw movement is huge but its definitely ironic that we stick them in a plastic cup with a plastic lid.
ReplyDelete