How COVID-19 has affected sustainability on FSU's campus

2020-09-20

Ella Hechlik, Staff Writer Published 10:35 a.m. ET Sep. 20, 2020

Suwannee Room. (Photo: Matthew Paskert/FSView)

With COVID-19 taking over not just the media, but everyday life the past few months, sustainability has been pushed to the back burner in a lot of ways, even on Florida State University’s campus. Almost always, the garbage cans outside Suwannee can be seen overflowing with the single-use plastics used in the dining hall, and students can be spotted carrying plastic grocery bags from the dining locations on campus.

According to Seminole Dining’s website, “Seminole Dining is aligned with Florida State University’s Sustainable Campus Strategic Action Plan to incorporate sustainable practices into all programs, reduce our ecological footprint and foster a culture of environmental consciousness.” The plan is said to focus on “waste minimization” and “sustainability education.”

The website also mentions events such as Fresh Market, the Food Recovery Network (FRN) and Green To-Go containers, all of which do not fit into the new COVID-19 restrictions in terms of crowd size, logistics, and safety.

However, Suwannee Room hopes to return to a “new normal” where they will be able to use tableware in the dining hall, which would occur once students are allowed to sit inside again.

Suwannee Room also has plans for limiting the amount of biodegradables (single-use plastics) in the future, and they are waiting on new green reusable O2GO© containers.

The dining hall is also partnering with OZZI, a company and system that helps to reduce single-use takeout containers. This would provide special machines for reusable container collection. However, this program is in high demand and according to Marcus Faison, the District Vice President for Sodexo, and the equipment is still on backorder.

“FRN usually recovers unused food from the convenience stores and dining facilities to serve populations in need, but has not been able to figure out how to proceed with it at this time with all the safety issues,” said Elizabeth Swiman, who has been the director of Campus Sustainability for the last 10 years. “Everything has been really chaotic, so how do we maintain the values and initiatives that we said were important before COVID, in this messy time?”

Sustainable Campus is the student outreach and education branch of sustainability on campus, and Swiman voiced her concerns about the to-go/single-use lifestyle FSU has had to adopt because of COVID-19.

“We can’t have in-person programs,” Swiman said.“We are trying to transition to an online environment, but I think a lot of people are overwhelmed or kind of over it.”

Sustainable activities such as riding the bus instead of using a car or carrying your own reusable containers, have changed because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“So much of our pro-environmental behavior is the opposite of what is being said right now,” said Swiman. “We have had such a long tenure of telling students to use reusable items, and now we are back to this single-use lifestyle.”

However, this problem is not limited to universities. According to a CNBC article published in June, cities have delayed some bans on plastic bags that were in place before the pandemic and many retailers are banning customers from bringing in reusable products, while some recycling operations slow down due to health of workers.

Swiman said she would like to see students learn more about how to maintain a sustainable lifestyle during COVID-19 and hopes that students will recognize the issue and use their voices to speak up and make themselves heard.

"While the coronavirus pandemic has brought about many challenges, Florida State remains committed to sustainability and finding new opportunities to address the impacts of the pandemic across campus,” said Dennis Schnittker, a university spokesman. “As we continue our work during this time, we ask for help through personal action in keeping our campus community safe, healthy, and clean."

When asked about sustainability on campus at this time, Swiman said “It’s been really a challenge and we haven’t been able to hold those (sustainability) priorities at the same time (as the pandemic) which is really disappointing. We have back-slid a decade."

Students can follow FSU Sustainable Campus on Instagram and Twitter @fsusustainable.

View the full story at FSUnews.com