Photo credit: SEA Stonehill Students
Your mission
Learn how you can lead the charge toward creating a plastic-free campus by exploring PLAN’s Plastic Free Campus Manual.
Time Commitment: 4 Hours
Range of Impact: School
This Action was created in partnership with Post Landfill Action Network (PLAN).
Why this Action is impactful
Exploring ways to transition away from plastics is committing to a future for the next generation. It is the start to resist the extraction of fossil fuels for plastic production, advocate for human health, and end the consumption of single-use items destined for a landfill (or incinerator).
Campuses are a great place to start modeling change like this since they function like mini-cities, complete with extensive infrastructure, diverse populations, and complex systems for dining, housing, transportation, and events. This makes campuses ideal environments for modeling zero-waste systems.
With significant plastic footprints stemming from dining services, contracts with vendors, beverage companies, and packaging for campus events, these institutions wield substantial decision making over resource use and waste production. By adopting comprehensive waste reduction strategies and strong campus policies, such as implementing reusable dining programs and renegotiating vendor contracts to prioritize sustainable alternatives, campuses can dramatically reduce their reliance on single-use plastics. These efforts not only cut waste but also educate students—future leaders and consumers—about the feasibility and necessity of sustainable practices in not just theory, but action as well.
Many of the successful zero waste campaigns on campuses across the world have been led by passionate students who work alongside fellow students, administration, and other decision makers to implement simple switches on campus to bring them one step closer to a single-use plastic free future.
Clearly, students have the power to make big changes on campus. There are resources out there to empower college students to push their higher education institution toward zero-waste and reuse, which is why we partnered with PLAN who offers many student-facing resources for college students to do just that!
What to know before getting started
The Post Landfill Action Network (PLAN) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering students and campuses to address waste and promote sustainability. Their mission is to help students move their schools beyond waste by developing zero-waste infrastructure, policies, and culture by providing resources, manuals, guidance, and toolkits for implementing waste reduction initiatives on campus.
The resource highlighted in this Action Guide is their Plastic Free Campus Manual. This manual acts as a resource for college and university students while they work towards eliminating single-use plastics on their campuses. While eliminating single-use plastics is not an overnight task, it is also not an impossible one! And it starts with some conversations and setting goals. With some intentional grounding, collaboration, and strategy, students can make a tangible difference in their campus’s plastic consumption.
*PLAN also has many other manuals for other types of waste reduction products – from their Move Out Manual, Food Recovery Manual, and Thrifting Manual. Check them out by making a free account in PLAN’s Community Hub!
What to do
- Create an account in PLAN’s Community Hub to access the Plastic Free Campus Manual in the Resource Library.
- Read the manual to learn about going plastic-free, the waste hierarchy, points of intervention, and barriers to eliminating single-use plastics.
- Use Plastic Free Campus Manual – Stop and Jot Worksheet to help track your thoughts while reading and help identify areas on your campus where you could hypothetically implement strategies to reduce your campus’s reliance on single-use plastic and the accompanied waste that comes with it.
Track your contribution
To submit your work and get recognized for your contribution to the movement, complete the form below. If we approve your submission, you’ll be awarded 4 Action Hours.
Go Above and Beyond
Want to go a step further to actually implement these zero waste changes on your campus? PLAN has the BFFP Campus Pledge Toolkit that gives you step by step guidance on how to navigate a personalized campaign for your campus. Email PLAN’s Plastics Campaign Director, Savannah[at]postlandfill.org to access the BFFP Pledge Campaign Toolkit and learn more.
Do another Action
Check out our other Actions that build off of this one!
Inspire Change in Restaurants
Educate your favorite local restaurant on how they can reduce plastics.
Banish the Spork Packet
Transition your cafeteria away from wasteful spork packets.
