2021 - Green Programs Promotions & Competitions
This year saw the Green Programs activities return to campus for the most part, but this time well versed in communicating via zoom and other online formats! The promotions were varied, but mainly focused around reducing waste and increasing recycling.
The competition for semester 1 was the 7 days of trash Challenge. The challenge required participants to capture all their non-recyclable and non-compostable waste generated for a week in a standard mason jar!
This required some creative thinking when it came to diverting certain types of waste from landfill and was a demonstration of just how much waste a person can produce in just a week.
Participants needed to research new recycling streams to utilise, and familiarise themselves with the Reuse and Recycling Station in the Kingham Room on the St Lucia campus.
The challenge inspired participants to conduct a waste audit on themselves and their household, to determine where waste was being generated and how it could be diverted from landfill. This in turn also impacted consumption- the amount of packaging used for many products can be truly shocking!
In Semester 2, Green Caffeen was welcomed back to campus after a brief hiatus! With Green Caffeen now in 6 of the main cafes across the St Lucia campus, including On A Roll Bakery, Wordies, Pantry Sixty Three, Darwins, St Lucys, and Brewpoint, it is evident that students and staff are loving having a sustainable option for their takeaway coffees.
As a part of the Semester 2 promotion for Green Caffeen, a pop-up stall was set up outside On A Roll Bakery, and free coffee vouchers were given out to students and staff who downloaded the app.
Students and staff alike were fans of the free program, which meant less time having to lug around and clean a reusable coffee cup on campus!
Green Office and Green Lab Representatives were also given coffee vouchers to hand out to colleagues within their workplaces who used disposable cups regularly.
Another competition held during semester 2, was the National Recycling Week plogging competition as part of National Recycling Week! It ran from the 1st of November to the 12th of November. Plogging is the act of picking up rubbish whist on a run or walk and originated in Sweden!
For this competition, ploggers emailed a picture of the rubbish they collected to the Sustainability Office to win a prize!
Plogging is a great way to get active and improve mental and physical health, whilst cleaning up the environment and maintaining social distancing, which is partly why it has become so popular in many places impacted by COVID lockdowns.
Plogging is especially relevant for UQ, as the St Lucia campus borders directly onto the Brisbane River, and all campuses have several running and walking paths to allow for easier plogging!
