Trash Talk: A Garbology of the University of Victoria

Introduction

Trash is something that everyone produces, whether we are aware of it or not. However the question is, why do people throw away what they do and are they doing so correctly? Those are the questions we aim to answer as a class at the University of Victoria (UVIC) during our Anthropology 392: Things, Exploring Material Culture course. While there were multiple groups tackling different sections of the campus, we (the Trash Pandas) were interested in how the engineering faculty sorted their waste. More specifically, we wanted to know if a) time of day had an effect on sorting percentages, and b) if time spent on campus had an effect on people’s recycling knowledge. 

                                       Some of the trash we collected over the 2 days.

Where We Collected (Material Culture)

Since engineering students at UVIC are mainly located in the Engineering and Computer Science Building (ECS) — yes I know, what a shock — we decided to collect our data, aka the trash, from the bins at the entrances of that building. We collected on September 24th, 2021 at 10AM and on September 27th, 2021 at 4:30PM. From what we gathered, 72.64% were sorted correctly in the morning, while 56% were sorted correctly in the afternoon. In total, we had 181 objects with 119 being correctly sorted, that is a grand total of 65.75% over the two days. Something that we noticed was that our morning findings had more coffee related items while the afternoon showcased more food related items that were packaged together. This does not come as a shock as many university students rely on caffeine as a form of breakfast and a tool to help them survive the day. In the afternoon, there were lots of take-out food containers that were thrown away together, proving that students don’t necessarily take the time to sort their waste, and when in doubt… throw everything in the trash.

Who We Interviewed (Survey/Ethnography)

For the survey portion of this study, we started off by going into ECS to ask random students who were there. However, due to the fact that we went in the beginning of October (and apparently that is when every engineering student ever is studying for a midterm) no one wanted nor had the time to talk to us… which was great🙃. Now for our solution to this problem. Luckily we both knew people who happened to be engineers and/or spent the majority of their time in ECS, so our project was saved! and I am not exaggerating, we did not have a backup plan.

We were able to interview seven students and two staff members and found that the more time an individual spent on campus, the more familiar they were with UVIC’s recycling policy. On a 1-10 point scale, our average score was approximately 6.83/10… which is TECHINALLY 68.3% which TECHNICALLY lines up nicely with our 65.75% correctly sorted rate. So it looks like we found honest individuals, because one of our fears was that people would make themselves look better than they actually were. 

Sorting Stations at UVIC and Familiarity

The majority of students said that they were either ‘adequate’ or ‘somewhat’ knowledgeable on what should go into what bin, while claiming that the sorting stations at UVIC needed to be more clear. This was backed up by our physical findings as the ‘adequate’ and ‘somewhat’ knowledgeable categories fit with the 65.75% correctly sorted rate.

78%  of participants stated how more information needs to be placed on the different types of recycling bins and that the pictures either need to match up with the writing better and/or use photos of products that UVIC sells. For example, instead of having a picture of a random coffee cup, have a picture of a UVIC coffee cup. 

COVID-19

We conducted this study in the Fall of 2021, the first semester back after roughly a year and a half online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we were interested in what percentage of trash was related to COVID PPE. Due to UVIC’s mask policy of having mandatory masks in indoor spaces, 100% of people claimed that they use reusable masks. In our physical data, we found only six COVID-19 related items.

Conclusion

In conclusion, UVIC’s current recycling practices aren’t horrible, but could definitely be improved. We, the Trash Pandas, alongside the other groups in the ANTH 392 class, hope that by highlighting the waste sorting habits, an improvement of the sorting stations can occur so we can create a better recycling environment around the campus. 

trash panda – noun

“From a likening of the black patches around a raccoon’s eyes to similar markings on a panda, a reference to its tendency to forage for garbage in urban environments”

To learn more about other Garbology projects from other Universities in Canada and the US, feel free to check out the following: The UW Garbology Project & UBCO Garbology

To see where we got the inspiration for our group name, feel free to watch this short video: Rocket’s Called a Trash Panda

Hello, my name is Taylor deVooght (she/her) and I am currently a fourth year undergrad student studying at the University of Victoria. I am working towards a bachelor of arts degree in the faculity of the social sciences, with sociology being my major and anthropology being my minor. My main interests are alined with studying modern socities so I found this garbology project quiet interesting!

Hello, I’m Kirsten Eisner. I’m in my third year at the University of Victoria studying both Anthropology and History. My major interests in school are 20th century and British history and how anthropology has shaped western world views, for better or for worse. This project was a pleasure to work on and was very eye opening, and I have taken away better recycling habits as a result.