COA Creates First-Ever Zero-Waste Graduation Meet Zadie, the Zero-Waste Lady. Zadie is the embodiment of College of the Atlantic’s first Zero-Waste Graduation Week. For the entire week of graduation, with parents and families visiting campus and students leaving their dorms, COA kept a padlock on all its dumpsters. Nothing was going into the landfill. No paper cups, no plastic spoons, no old CDs or leftover mayonnaise—a first for a college graduation anywhere as far as COA could determine. Instead, COA set up an array of bins throughout campus for returnables, recycling, composting and giveaway. Every item had its place and a host of trained volunteers assisted visitors and community-members in finding that place. All graduation party utensils—made from compostable, starch-based materials—went into a solar composter, along with all food waste. Meanwhile, the kitchen made sure all food coming to campus was packed in reusable wooden or plastic tubs. What couldn’t be recycled or composted ended up as Zadie, COA’s studentmade, zero-waste sculpture. Ultimately, said college chef Ken Sebelin ’94, “It was a lot easier to place everything in a composter rather than haul bags of trash out to the dumpster.” COA did end up with some trash: five pounds worth, plus another 265 pounds of broken appliances and non-recyclables from the dorms. That’s a fraction of the five dumpster loads which typically end graduation week, saving the town of Bar Harbor more than $1,500. Millard Dority, COA director of campus planning, buildings and public safety, is continuing this policy. From now on, all COA events are becoming either reduced- or zero-waste.
Zadie the Zero-Waste Lady, a sculpture made from the few items of trash that could not be recycled or composted during COA’s zero-waste graduation week. Photo by Donna Gold.
With the summer upon us and students scattering across the globe, COA inquiring photographer Sarah Barrett ’08 asked a random sampling of students,
“What will you be doing with your human ecology degree after graduation?”
“After I graduate, I’m planning to take a year off to do some traveling and then go to graduate school for conservation biology and then law school for environmental law.” ~ Christina Hinkle ’06
“I would like to do graphic design and some sort of social work with people in other countries. The graphic design will be for small environmental companies or people trying to get the word out for AIDS relief. I am not interested in selling products, but getting voices out.” ~ Menemsha Grey ’08
“I hope that after I graduate I can travel for a bit because I traveled with the international honors program during my sophomore year and that was a lot of fun. After that, I want to work with a program for street children and also go to graduate school for educational psychology and moral development.” ~ Nikhit D’Sa ’06
“Eventually, I plan on getting a Ph.D. but the fall after I graduate, I’m going to student teach and finish getting certified in secondary science. I would like to create a science program with teachers at small island schools who don’t have the training or resources to offer classes in island or marine ecology.” ~ Kipp Quinby ’06