The Green Police
Amy and Steph...the green police on duty.
The sorting rates of garbage and recycling have recently fallen at Acadia to about 45%, and in the Fall semester 2008 we looked for ways to engage the students in sorting awareness. We discovered the Green Police (or “Get Caught Recycling”) program by talking to students at Saint Mary’s University. The program originated at the Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth to promote better sorting with customers, and since then has been adapted by Saint Mary’s University and now Acadia University.
The Green Police is a program that uses one-on-one education with volunteers and students. The idea is that students are given prizes by the Green Police (volunteering students) for being caught recycling properly, or are shown how to do so if they are sorting improperly. In the fall of 2008, volunteers from the AES made Green Police costumes and took shifts patrolling the BAC. With the limited number of volunteers and area covered, it was difficult to catch people in the act of sorting, so we used interactive questionnaires to educate students instead. The feedback was quite positive, we reached about 60 students.
In the 2009 Winter semester we hope to expand on this first experience, involving more volunteers and running the program over a longer period of time. It was a great way to answer student’s questions, clarify the valley’s sorting streams in a fun and interactive way.
In addition to the Green Police, we will be exploring other ways of improving sorting rates on campus. Some ideas are bringing in a speaker from Valley Waste, circulating a bookmark design with sorting information, and verifying the location and availability of sorting bins. If you have any comments or questions, please e-mail the Sustainability Office at sustain@acadiau.ca.