The following article has been contributed by SWAP (Sharing With A Purpose), the only nonprofit student business at Washington University. Claire Irawan, Sustainability Coordinator for SWAP and freshman at WashU, tells us about PLAN and its involvement with WashU’s Earth Week.
WashU’s nonprofit Sharing With A Purpose (SWAP) is proud to bring the Points of Intervention Tour (POI) by the Post Landfill Action Network (PLAN) to campus during Earth Week! Come out THIS MONDAY (3/26) for amazing events by SWAP x PLAN!
The Post Landfill Action Network (PLAN) is an organization that works with and travels to college campuses educating about and advocating for a student-led zero-waste movement. PLAN works to stand against the linear consumption model of Extract, Produce, Distribute, Consume, Dispose. Instead, this organization educates campuses of the 5R’s of changing our ways of consumption: Resisting at extraction, Renewing at production, Redesigning at Distribution, Repairing and using at Consumption, and finally Reclaiming at disposal.
Part-owner of SWAP senior Eva Blumenfeld has been coordinating with the PLAN staff to bring amazing groups and people to campus on the first day of Earth Week. She says that “this collaboration will boost WashU’s already growing international reputation of a University that not only cares about its students but cares about its students doing amazing things for the environment. By hosting this tour stop, we will become a member school of an effective action network and be connect with the growing list of schools that are uniting to do the same. #dontfeedthefill.”
The partnership with PLAN will support the zero-waste movement at WashU by strengthening sustainable initiatives from WashU and other like-minded universities. SWAP is pairing with various on-campus organizations such as SSB (Student Sustainability Board), Burning Kumquat, Pride Alliance, and SU to make this tour happen.
The POI tour consist of two events: the first is the Repair and Reuse Fair at 11AM. During this event at the DUC, students can shop at the free market and learn recrafting skills with Klean Kanteen, SWAP, Goodwill, and other local St. Louis shops. Later that afternoon, PLAN and SWAP are hosting a speaker series by people and organizations that support the 5R’s of challenging consumption.