Plastics on Eckerd Campus


In total, there are 7 different types of plastic, however, of these seven kinds only type 1 and 2 can be recycled in the city of St. Petersburg specifically. Considering Eckerd College is a coastal community located in St. Petersburg, it is up to our residents to halt our use of single-use plastics and to actively partake in ensuring only types one and two plastics are being used. Already more than 85 percent of our ocean's surface is polluted by plastic waste. 

         



 
As a group we crafted this sea turtle sculpture using a fraction of the plastics we gathered from the Coast of Eckerd College Campus during beach clean-ups hosted by the micro-plastics team that is currently ran by Professor Amy Suida. In addition, a social media post was created and published to bring awareness to the plastic pollution our waterways currently face. 

 

We were able to secure a meeting with the Director of Operations of the Pub to bring to light the excess use of type 3-7 plastics. Due to supply issues, the Pub is currently unable to obtain plastics that can be recycled by St. Petersburg.



However, the Pub is currently working on more environmentally friendly options like the reduce single use products as seen above and made clear that they are open to more sustainable ideas so long as it remains within reason.


Class concepts used:
A pragmatic approach via our social media post by alerting, persuading, and offering solutions.
A constitutive approach via the sculpture and social media post by evoking feelings and thoughts in mentioning animal deaths.
Media in pop culture via social media post
Systematic change via emailing and meeting with Bon Appetit to persuade them to use recyclable plastics and stop the use of single-use plastics



Reference:

 100+ Plastic in the Ocean Statistics & Facts (2020-2021) (condorferries.co.uk)





                                                                                 

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