2. Our Goal
We want to decrease the use of plastic bags
on the Penn State Behrend campus.
We will encourage students to use reusable
alternatives to plastic bags and properly
recycle plastic bags that they may use.
This model can then be spread to the rest of
the Penn State campuses and replicated
nationwide.
3. Making the Connection
● “Every day the United States
generates 200 million tons of trash, or
4.3 pounds per person”
● “If just 25% of American families used
10 fewer plastic bags a month, it
would save over 2.5 billion bags a
year.”
● Some nations have gone as far as to
create a tax on plastic bags.
● There are a few States in the US that
tax plastic bags.
4. Plastic pollution in the Watershed
● Plastic pollution
has a major effect
on our waterways
● Plastic bags are a
major source of
stream pollution
6. Target Market
College students
Residence Halls & Apartments
Living on own for the first time
Limited financial resources
Motivated by social factors
Value convenience
“Not Me Greens” & “Go-with-the-Flow Greens”
19. Triple Bottom Line
Social: changing the dynamics of how students typically transport their
groceries. Students will possibly be able to bond and discuss sustainability
over shared use of reusable bags
Economic: decreasing the number of bags used by the Galley or other
stores as well as eliminating the cost of students buying their own reusable
bags
Environmental: reducing the number of plastic bags used that will end up
becoming pollutants and helping to raise awareness about sustainable
practices.
20. Charting the use of reusable bags
When a student takes a bag they could sign, swipe their PSU id, or simply
be marked down to show that they had made use of them
Further information that could be provided may be how many bags they
used and what they carried in the bags, where they went, and how far they
carried them
This information could help to implement more effective solutions for
students in the future. It also represents areas for potential future
undergraduate research
