CSUDH is aiming to meet a ninety-percent waste reduction goal by 2025 as part of a broader effort to combat environmental injustice. One of the main ways the university hopes to achieve that goal is through zero waste bins.
There are two hundred zero waste bins around campus where faculty, staff, and students can properly dispose of materials. These zero waste bins aim to conserve resources and minimize pollution, and keep waste out of landfills.
The waste bins have three distinct compartments: landfill, recycling, and compost. CSUDH hopes to divert waste away from landfills by providing two more compartments for waste, recycling, and compost. In turn, the bins reduce the environmental impact of waste disposal.
Composting green material such as fruit and vegetable scraps decreases the emission of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and strengthens the ecosystem’s resistance to temperature increases.
Scarlett Zamora, the Zero Waste Coordinator at CSUDH, said zero waste bins are important for the envi- ronment and community, especially when it comes to plastic – a synthetic material that is difficult to decompose.
“When we throw something away, it doesn’t go away, it goes to a hole in the Earth where it decomposes for hundreds, if not thousands, of years,” Zamora said.
Azure Fisher, the president of CSUDH’s Sustainability Club, encouraged Toros to think about how their daily habits might contribute to waste. She educates members on sustainable initiatives, and provides them with zero waste products, including toiletries and water bottles to support good habits.
“Our mission is to provide educational resources to students about sustainability and show them how to intertwine sustainability into their everyday life,” Fisher said.
Within the Sustainability Club, Fisher highlighted how waste disposal has a direct link to social injustice – specifically, what is known as “environmental racism.” Landfills and other hazardous waste sites disproportionately affect minority communities, and they are often built near lower-income areas because the real estate is cheaper.
“It’s important to acknowledge that landfills’ environmental impact affects the health of people who live nearby them,” said Fisher.
The simple act of correctly disposing your waste in the zero waste bins can have substantial benefits not just on campus but in the surrounding community.
“It should be a core value to live sustainably,” Zamora said. “With continual education, I am confident that we will get there eventually.”
