Climate Champs Choose2Reuse
Community members design app to promote reusability.
Though Stonehill is associated with the color purple, the Environmental Stewardship Council (ESC) has gone to great lengths over the years to help the school go green. They have made it their mission to eliminate a major source of waste on campus: single-use take-out containers.
“Disposable items are a real thorn in our side,” said Professor of Chemistry Cheryl Schnitzer, chair of the ESC.
Close to 200 million Americans reported using disposable food storage containers in 2020, according to U.S. Census and Simmons National Consumer Survey data. Though convenient, these to-go products contribute to climate change by clogging landfills and waterways.
The ESC provided plastic reusable containers to all incoming first-year students from 2014 to 2020 to address this issue. Director of Purchasing Gregory Wolfe, who serves on the council, notes the project resulted in the elimination of over 75,000 single-use containers from Stonehill’s waste stream in 2016 compared to the previous year. Unfortunately, COVID-19 brought the progress achieved by this endeavor to a halt.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we reverted back to using single-use products a year and a half ago to ensure there wasn’t any spread of germs through our container program,” Wolfe said. “It killed my green-hearted soul, but it was just the safest thing medically.”
Now that it is known that COVID-19 is primarily spread through airborne transmission, many hope a new app will get Stonehill back on track. Choose2Reuse launched in the Apple Store in November 2021. Stonehill College Dining Services implemented it as part of its operations in February 2022. The app is a product of the ESC’s desire to collect data on the reusable containers and ensure their repeated return. The program’s developers aim to achieve at least 360 uses per container to guarantee environmental benefits.
The Choose2Reuse app is available now in the Apple Store.
Choose2Reuse gamifies the use of the containers. Students use the app to scan a QR code affixed to them, enabling administrators to track borrowing and returning habits.
“If users return the container within 48 hours of borrowing, the app rewards them 15 points,” Schnitzer said. “If they return it after that, they receive five points. When they reach 500 points, they earn a ‘Climate Champ Badge’ and can cash the points in for a free treat in the cafeteria.”
Schnitzer first conceptualized Choose2Reuse after Professor of Computer Science Robert Dugan and Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems Michael Salé invited community members to pitch ideas for their Computer Science Capstone course. Each spring semester, students in that class collaborate with clients to build working apps that solve problems.
Schnitzer’s idea beat out 11 others presented to Dugan and Salé’s students. Once they started working on Choose2Reuse, Schnitzer met with them regularly during the spring 2021 semester to assess their progress. She recalls becoming emotional when the project came together.
“I had tears in my eyes because I couldn’t believe we finally had something that was going to help the situation,” Schnitzer said.
After the course ended, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection awarded Schnitzer a $5,000 micro-grant through its Reduce, Reuse, Repair program. These funds enabled Computer Science major Caleb Hadley ’22 to work on Choose2Reuse through summer and fall 2021 as part of an independent study.
Hadley said working on the project has made him well-rounded in the art of software engineering.
“In computer science, you usually specialize in different fields,” Hadley said. “Some people will do front end work, managing how a website or an app looks. Other developers will work on the back end, managing how something operates. Through Choose2Reuse, I’ve been able to work in both realms.”
I had tears in my eyes because I couldn’t believe we finally had something that was going to help the situation.
To help facilitate the program’s rollout, Schnitzer and Hadley recently partnered with the ESC and students in Professor Denis Malin’s Business Management course to carry out a pilot program to beta test the app.
Management major Kerry Tyer ’23, one of Malin’s students, served as the pilot’s project manager during the fall 2021 semester.
“I would like to run construction projects in the future,” she said. “Working on Choose2Reuse helped me realize that being a project manager is a lot of work, but it’s also fun. I enjoy running things and feeling that sense of accomplishment at the end. I think this experience helped me realize that this is what I want to do.”
General Manager of Dining Services Kathleen Fitzgerald, who helped launch Choose2Reuse, was happy to work on this project, as the stakes are personal to her.
“Serving on the Environmental Stewardship Council has opened my eyes to a lot of things,” she said. “I have two young kids. What is the world going to look like for them if we don’t start changing our ways?”
Fitzgerald is hopeful Choose2Reuse will positively impact Stonehill.
“This app offers a really good way to get students and staff to go green again,” she said. “People have missed the reusable containers during the pandemic. It will be great to see people using them again. I think this is going to be a great program.”