Achieving sustainability via minimal changes

Onder begeleiding van docenten Waldo Galle en Bieke Abelshausen gingen VUB-studenten Noah Abdelali Lahjouji, Katharina Nino, Ilke Debast, Francis Claeys, Alina Radulova en Tim Dupuis een samenwerking aan met de VUB Sportdienst. Dit gebeurde in het kader van het instellingsbrede keuzevak Sustainability: an Interdisciplinary Approach, waarbij de studenten niet alleen via het onderwijs en interessante lezingen, maar ook met beide voeten in de praktijk, leren ze hoe duurzame verandering realiteit kan worden. De Wetenschapswinkel is een trotse partner van dit volwaardige CERL-vak, waarin theorie, praktijk en reflectie samenkomen. Studenten gaan in dialoog met academici én externe partnerorganisaties om zich samen te buigen over actuele vraagstukken rond duurzaamheid.

ABSTRACT: Waste is a significant global issue. Increasing volumes of waste are being generated as the global population and living standards rise. The environmental impact is significant, with massive volumes of waste generated annually with only basic or little treatment to minimize its impact. People are increasingly concerned about the production of waste and its effect and are seeking ways to deal with the problem.

VUB sports complex does not stand aside. The amount of waste produced by people is not the only existing problem; added to it, the waste on the ground coming from people that don’t throw the trash in the bins has become another issue to face. Some steps to improve waste management have already been taken, but that has not been enough.

We have set ourselves the goal of finding a way to reduce the amount of waste and motivate the visitors of the sports complex to throw away their waste in the designated place. The main challenge to do so was applying minimal changes with maximum efficiency. To achieve this goal, we asked ourselves the main question: “Why do people litter and what needs to be done to avoid it?”.