Introduction

This project, which was also one of my experiential learning experiences, is something that I have been working on with 3 other students at UW for the better part of a year. We had a vision for a system that would let us teach students about recycling in a hands-on manner. We entered in the Husky Seed Fund competition and were awarded a grant to bring our vision to life. For the past year or so, we have been designing and building a modular, portable cart system that holds and can power a variety of equipment, including a plastic shredder and injection molder. Recently, we have brought this system to several events around UW, where we have informed, educated, and recruited many students to our cause. I feel that this artifact is of particular importance to me because not only is it a cause that I am passionate about, but I was able to harness my skills from engineering to actually construct and bring our idea to life. I hope that by including it in my portfolio, I can show how my experience in different engineering classes and extracurricular experiences gave me the skills and know-how to achieve this. Below is my initial submission, and later my reflection, for this experience in my experiential learning portal.

Project Definition

Summarize your proposed experiential learning activity, including the primary focus of your activity and whatever tasks or actions it entails.

Precious Plastics is a non-profit organization dedicated to making plastics recycling more accessible and commonplace through education and outreach. We were awarded $5,000 from the Husky Seed Fund last spring to create a Precious Plastics chapter at UW (called Huskies Precious Plastics). Our aim is to educate UW students about plastics recycling and help them take an active part in the process. To facilitate this, we have created a series of carts with equipment such as shredders, injection molders, and filament extruders that students can use to better understand and become involved in the recycling process. We will station these carts at various events and locations throughout the year and hope to garner support for further funding, outreach, and engineering efforts. So far, we have worked with previous students who worked on a similar project, inherited and purchased several key pieces of equipment, designed and constructed a cart, created a newsletter signup page, established several communication channels, and attended several Dawg Daze sessions to garner interest and establish our presence in the community. In the coming months, we hope to continue to develop our cart and equipment, attend more events, and continue to build interest and establish a passionate community.

To me, service is helping others out of the goodness of your own heart. This help can vary, depending on the type of service, but the common factor is that you are assisting others with the aim of improving their well-being. Meanwhile, community engagement is a somewhat broader term, that encompasses finding a community of individuals and committing to understanding and positively impacting a community, socially, culturally, and/or economically. Service is one of many ways to engage with a community.
In the past, I have engaged in traditional community service, volunteering at food banks and homeless shelters to help those in need. However, I have also tried to apply my technical skills, volunteering at a library to tutor low-income students and help run a maker space. I am very passionate about education, and these volunteering opportunities have allowed me to apply my passions by teaching and educating others. I hope that this experience allows me to do something similar.

Like many other students, I have been passionate about recycling for a while. As an engineer, I have also seen how important plastics are to our everyday lives as well. However, I have noticed a disconnect, where people understand that recycling is important, but not why. For many, the process is very opaque, with little visibility into the inner workings. People rarely see (and thus understand) what happens to their plastic when they throw it in the recycling. I hope that by allowing people to use and work with the equipment, they will gain a better understanding of the process and why it is important. Furthermore, I find the engineering behind the carts and machines that we have made and worked with to be very cool, and I hope that others are inspired by this to pursue projects of their own.

What tangible skills or experience do you hope to grow during this activity? How does this activity connect to your coursework? How does it speak to your educational, professional, or personal goals?

This activity connects nicely with my engineering coursework, as I am able to apply the engineering skills I have learned in my classes toward cart and equipment design and construction. Furthermore, I hope to build further skills and develop a better understanding of the recycling process and how it can be improved. Our work in terms of outreach and education will also further my professional goals, as it will help with networking, public speaking, and project management. We have some ambitious goals for the future, such as partnering with companies and expanding our network to several thousand community members, both of which will take careful and thorough planning and management, and a strong effort in marketing and networking.