Making Trinity greener one fork, knife, and bottle at a time

We plan to eliminate all single use food/drink items on campus and create an environment where proper disposal of waste is respected by all.

This project tackles the usage of single-use plastics and other unsustainable food and beverage packaging materials on campus. It aims to achieve more sustainable efforts on campus by enforcing the practice of reusing, recycling, upcycling, and composting products that are consumed every day. The objectives of this project are as follows: - Change the supply of packaging materials on campus to more environmentally sustainable ones. Encourage the canteen on campus to invest in recyclable, reusable and compostable materials for their business. This includes utensils and the storage of foods, beverages and condiments. - Create a successful marketing campaign. Part of the €600 budget would fund the marketing of this initiative. This will include appealing posters being put up across campus which will inspire students and staff members of the college to engage with sustainable practices. It aims to do so by incentivising the use of sustainable materials and imposing a levy on single-use materials on campus. The incentives will include discounts on products and other loyalty benefits. - Ensure rubbish is disposed of correctly and sustainably. The posters from the marketing campaign will address this objective. - Use the compostable products to fertilise the growth of crops on campus. This can range from vegetables to trees or other carbon-consuming crops. This project will be successful in making the campus adopt more sustainable practices; we believe the generous incentives provided will drive the project’s success. The expectation is that students and staff will be more aware of their impact on the environment and how their small efforts collectively can cause great change. We hope the project may also start a sustainability movement on campus which could lead to further projects that deal with other sustainability issues.

Targeted at the whole university.Offering compostable cutlery, and packaging are internal adaptations that will be undertaken by the staff there. Individual measures like recycling and using the correct bins are dependent on the cooperation of all.

We will ask a company already related to the campus to sponsor us by letting them advertise on products used in the project. If this project is accepted by TCD, we will be allocated €600 by the college which can set the ground. An invisible levy on disposable cups could be used. If reusable containers are used then we could charge a small, but still attractive price or use the sponsor to cover costs.

- For those working in the university cafes and restaurants, fundamental hospitality hygiene protocols must be exercised. The reminder to wear gloves and frequently sanitize your hands while working in food and drink environments is important. - When handling the reusable utensils provided by the canteen or café, it is vital that the students and staff sanitize their hands before and after handling the containers or bottles. - Sanitization stations and reminders about COVID-19 safety protocol are present around the school but an increase in sanitization stations would do no harm to the university, even in a post-COVID world.- Social distancing in queues and lines in the university cafeterias and restaurants is vital for reducing the spread of COVID. In the likelihood of a lockdown, our project would not really be threatened as the reusable and compostable utensils and boxes would remain on campus until our safe return and no unsustainable practices would take place on campus.