HEIMAT, Kasteel take bold steps to stop polystyrene pollution

An estimated 4000 meals are served at each of the North-West University (NWU) Potchefstroom campus’s six dining facilities on a busy day, for which polystyrene packaging is used, none of which is properly disposed of, said Jaco Pretorius, HEIMAT house committee (HC) member.

“Everyone knows [on-campus pollution] is a problem – even the SS (Klipoog Cafeteria) – but we haven’t had a viable solution,” said Pretorius, the transformation and diversity (TAD) officer with Current Affairs, AKSA, and marketing and recruitment officer. “I feel we have one that we can use now, saving both our environment and money for the NWU.” 

Project EcoStyrene was unveiled by HEIMAT Men’s town residence and Kasteel Women’s residence during Value your Environment week, an annual event hosted by the TAD with Current Affairs portfolio from 6-10 March 2023. The initiative would have students bring their own containers to the dining hall or cafeteria to replace the provided polystyrene packaging, in turn earning them points towards free meals. 

“The only solution to get rid of polystyrene is to ban it,” said Mhleli Vezi, the NWU environmental sustainability specialist responsible for reducing on-campus dining facilities’ waste in an attempt to improve the university’s environmental sustainability.

Alice Maredi, Kasteel HC member, TAD officer with Current Affairs, and language facilitator, said that EcoStyrene will introduce a barcode scanning system which will allow students to accumulate points. The more points a student earns the more rewards they will reap, such as a free drink at 10 points or a free meal at 20 points. 

The dining facilities do not play their part in sufficiently disposing of polystyrene, said Maredi, nor of the food that is left over at the end of the day. Currently, this food is tossed but could serve as reward for students collecting EcoStyrene points. Pretorius urged the NWU to consider the money saved by eliminating the purchase of polystyrene and related waste removal.

“[The NWU] is willing to do everything to make sure the environment is protected,” Vezi said. However, biodegradable containers come at a steep price that could result in an increase in the cost of food items. But the production of non-biodegradable polystyrene pollutes the air and endangers aquatic life when it inevitably ends up in the ocean.

The extent of the pollution at the NWU is not measured at all, Vezi said.  Environmental management is new to the NWU and he considers the lack of statistics one of the greatest problems he wishes to solve. “Before we can minimise waste we must determine the extent thereof, and we have support from the university management”, he said. “They want improvements; we have solutions. If I couldn’t cultivate green initiatives here, I would pack my bags and leave immediately.”

During Value your Environment week, students voted for their favourite green initiative as presented by the sleep residences. Vezi and the Students’ Campus Council (SCC) will determine a winner, whose project will be funded by the NWU. 

Regardless of who wins, Pretorius and Maredi hope to continue with the EcoStyrene project. Vezi said that this project has “huge potential”. “I believe in it, personally”, he said, and that it is one of the projects he would love to see funded. 

In light of global warming and the steep prices of sourcing biodegradable containers, “it’s not continuous improvement but continual improvement we’re after,” Vezi said. “We are trying to change the world and we are doing our part to reduce our carbon footprint.” He said that influencing the university, as well as the world, and inciting a shift in how we live cannot be done without collaboration. 

When initial talks of this project commenced at HEIMAT, Pretorius noticed a first-year student with his lunchbox in the SS. Pretorius believes this to be a testimony to how quickly the word spreads – “Change does not always come from higher-ups, but rather from us at ground level who get hit the hardest when things go wrong. It starts with us, those who take the initiative and set the example, as we are doing now.”