How well do you sort? The impacts of Dalhousie University student demographics on understanding proper waste sorting on campus and in the Halifax Regional Municipality

Abstract

The inability of students to properly sort their waste on Dalhousie’s campus and in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) resulting from improper waste management education creates barriers to achieving Dalhousie’s sustainability goals. In Canada, there is a very high level of daily consumer waste created and a measured inefficiency of waste sorting practices established at many global post-secondary institutions. Furthermore, this project conducted research to determine the most influential factors in the missorting of municipal solid waste and understand the tools most likely to improve Dalhousie’s undergraduate students' ability to manage their waste effectively. Utilizing qualitative and quantitative data collection, demographic-based questions were used to compare students' ability to accurately sort waste within a survey, followed by the relationship between these results and familiarity with current HRM waste sorting tools. It was found that the most significant factors in a student's ability to properly sort waste were how long they have resided in the HRM and their familiarity with current waste sorting information. Furthermore, student-provided feedback outlines future studies that could be conducted to determine the most impactful ways of disseminating waste management guidelines to educate Dalhousie’s undergraduate student population effectively. Overall, a future analysis involving a greater data set will aid in implementing waste management tools on Dalhousie campuses that will effectively target the student demographics requiring further waste sorting education.