This project involved mapping the electronics waste lifecycle at Lafayette. After much research into the raw materials that make up e-waste at Lafayette, we found that because the raw materials were common throughout commonly used electronics (cell phones, laptops, televisions, etc.), that mapping the iPhone was the best method, and that creating a physical display was the most effective way of conveying all of the information to students.

Our map will be printed and displayed in many high concentration academic buildings throughout campus. We have been assured by the Director of the Office of Sustainability, Marie Fechik-Kirk, that they will oversee the placement of the posters and their continual presence in the academic buildings.

The long-term goal of this project other than mapping the electronics life-cycle was to add some form of impact to the Lafayette campus. Lafayette College does not have a system in place for students to recycle their e-waste, and as we later learned, the system on their site is not very well documented or organized in practice. Additionally, the campus community is not educated on e-waste as a whole and how large a problem it is in the world at large. Our display is therefore meant to be a constant, informative, and aesthetically inviting potential solution to this problem.

Additionally, the Lafayette College Sustainability logo is in the top right corner of the poster. By connecting the poster with the Office of Sustainability, we have made the project both a symbol of their department at Lafayette, and part of their responsibility. Beyond our work in this semester, we are not likely to continue working on the project. The presence of the poster is just the first step in making sure this work is complete.  This is why we have placed the responsibility on the school.

The poster lends itself to longevity as well. As suggested by Marie Fechik-Kirk, the poster’s “Recycling” section is left blank for the Office of Sustainability to periodically update with current locations at which Lafayette students can recycle their e-waste.

Another way in which we focused on student inclusion and longevity is by implementing the surveys. The 135 person survey with at least 30 students from each future graduating class was meant to include students in our work. This survey was meant to initially get students thinking about how they contribute to the e-waste problem at Lafayette, and how they can lead their lives slightly differently in return for more environmental stability.

The survey is also meant to inform the Office of Sustainability. We may have used this survey for our own statistics about how little students know or understand about electronic waste, but the office of sustainability can use the surveys to make their future e-waste program. We have kept all of the surveys and are giving them to the Office of Sustainability, as well as any other useful information we have gathered on the subject. The Office of Sustainability now has information on what students do and do not know. They can use this information to correctly implement a system that has the necessary outreach to students. As shown in the survey, there are a very large number of students at Lafayette who know how to recycle their e-waste on Electronics Recycling Day, the school’s one form of campus-wide electronics recycling.  Possibly marketing the program more or differently could increase the way that students approach recycling on campus.

The school could market recycling more in many other ways.  Marie Fechik-Kirk also brought up putting the Big Green Boxes and our display together in the select academic buildings. This could help students actually understand where to use and how to use that. The school could also send memos about when particular electronics are about to decrease in value due to planned obsolescence, such as when a new iPhone is scheduled to be released, so students are more likely to capitalize on the possible economic value of their older versions of the iPhone.

This project is meant to show that one group of students in their senior capstone class cannot both find and decide a way to reach students and implement an entirely new system that can solve all problems involving electronic waste. This project is meant to lay a foundation through which the Office of Sustainability can work with other interested groups or individuals to create a lasting and effective system to recycle electronic waste. There are many incentives for both students and the administration to do so, and organizations such as Responsible Recycling Services or Big Green Box have already worked with the school, and if nothing else can provide added insight and aid to creating this lasting system on Lafayette’s campus. The goal of future work should be to not only make this system sustainable, but to figure out a way to tailor it to reach students, who as shown in the survey, have many sources of electronics that are valuable and almost always readily recyclable.

We’ve taken the steps necessary to ensure the longevity of our project, which will remain visible on campus for years to come. Next semester, whether it be the Office of Sustainability, a future capstone group, or a Sustainable Solutions class, the work we’ve done over the past three months will continue to move forward in bettering the environmental impact of our community.