As part of Waste Reduction Week (October 19-25, 2015), the Office of Campus Sustainability started working on an independent art project, a photographic essay that hoped to document the lives of adherents to a growing, subversive subculture on campus known only as… “mug life”.
Every day the campus needlessly produces over 6000 paper cups; that’s already a lot of waste, but many wind up impossible to recycle as well.
“What most people don’t realize is that you can’t recycle one of those paper cups if there’s still coffee in it: if you toss it in the recycling bin and the coffee seeps into the rest of the paper, it can’t be recycled – it becomes waste”, explains Brigitte Morin, Recycling Coordinator. “That’s why it’s really important to dump the coffee out first. Most of the recycling stations on campus have a drain built in to them, below the orange “liquid” sign, for exactly that.”
To encourage and promote the use of reusable mugs instead, Muggy Mondays visitors could have their “Mug Shots” taken with their mug, or send a picture over social media, to be entered in a draw to win some goodies from our awesome sponsors Bridgehead, David’s Tea, and Ben & Jerry’s!
We looked for photos that were original, with either funny poses (or personas!) or a good message on the board.
AND THE WINNERS ARE:
First place: Christian PotworowskiSecond place: Gasline T. Deslouches
Congratulations to the winners and all the runner-ups, and a big thank you to all those who participated. Help us make campus waste-free – keep using those reusable mugs!
#MUGLIFE
~ alex latus - communications agent