~Wednesday~ Today, as part of my job as a technical communicator in the Office of Information Technology organization at NC State, my department staged a “Media Disposal Toss” event for NC State’s Earth Day 2013 event.
Along with other NC State organizations, as well as dozens of non-university organizations, we set up a table on NC State’s Brickyard from 10:00 until 2:00, through which hundreds and hundreds of people passed—including faculty, staff, and students—throughout the four hours.
On our table, among other things, we had a box of media consisting of CDs, DVDs, jewel cases, and diskettes that were ready for recycle and some electronics recycling informational pamphlets.
Behind our table, about 15 or 20 feet back, we placed two of campus’ new yellow electronics recycle bins, at which people could fling—frisbee golf-style—the media to try to land them inside the bins.
Media Available for Tossing
The key messages of our “media disposal campaign” included:
- It is now illegal to put electronics in our landfills.
- NC State is providing yellow e-Cycle bins around campus for your convenience.
- A listing of all the things—highlighting the IT-related things—that can be put in the yellow bins for recycling, which we noted in a fold-out pamphlet we handed out.
Sharing a Laugh with Rhonda over a Handful of “Ammo”
Our “booth” was very popular. In addition to hundreds of participants, we had repeat visitors—both to “play” again themselves, and to bring a friend or colleague back with them to take a turn. Faculty, staff and students, universally, said after throwing a few items, “That was fun!”
And I would estimate that 90% of the students were not aware of the yellow bins, so we did a lot of educating, to boot.
They Came In Pairs
They Came Alone
And They Missed a Lot
Some of my favorite sound bites / sight bites of the day included:
- This was my “barking” routine as people stepped up to fling the CDs, in particular:
Aim higher than you think, and to the right of the bin, because they drop fast and they curve to the left.
I love “process improvement,” and about midway through the four hours the “vertical toss” technique was introduced by one player, which involved holding the CD vertically, and tossing it sort of like you would toss a hula hoop if you were to toss it with a spin to make it come back to you.
So I incorporated that into my spiel about them tending to drop fast and curve to the left, adding:
Some people have found the “vertical toss” technique effective.
- Several people asked:
What’s the prize if I get it in?
To which I replied:
Glory. And you can’t put a price on glory.
And what could they do, but agree. And we did give glory when they made it in—lots of raised victory arms, shouting hoorays, and high-fives.
- One student said to me:
“This is a brilliant way to teach what can go in those bins! Was this your idea?”
To which I replied:
“Yes, it was.”
And to which he replied:
“Well, you’re an AWESOME teacher, then!”
That pretty much made my day right there!
- Someone from NC State’s Office of Sustainability, who were the sponsors of the overall Earth Day event on The Brickyard, gave us kudos for the popularity of our “booth,” and thanked us sincerely for helping them spread the electronics recycling message.
- At one point, when we had a lot of CDs all over the place—it was harder than it looked to get them in—a lady stepped up to “play” with her two little boys.
And while they tried to toss a couple of CDs into the bins, she leaned over and whispered to me: “If you ask these guys if they’d like to help you pick up those CDs, they’d love to! They won’t do it if I ask them, but if you do, I know they will.”
And they did!
Since they hadn’t gotten any in when they’d shot the few that they did before picking up all the CDs, afterward I moved one of the bins much closer and they shot several more, and did make a few. They were thrilled. As was I. Win/win!Jumping for Joy!
And, finally, when the participants were done tossing and before they walked away, I asked, pointing at the yellow bins they’d been tossing at:
Do you know about those yellow bins?
It’s against the law to put electronics in the landfills now, so NC State is providing those all around campus to put your electronics in for recycle.
You can put all this stuff (pointing to our piles of CDs, DVDs, diskettes, jewel cases, and a couple of internal computer cards on the table), as well as printers, monitors, keyboards, cell phones, iPods, and batteries in them!
Here’s a little pamphlet that lists those and many other things you can put in them. Thanks for playing our game, and for recycling your electronics responsibly!
We—my boss, Rhonda Greene and my colleague, Vanessa Smith—enjoyed a welcome change in routine of being in the office, watching everyone have fun, and all the while educating the students, faculty, and staff about electronics recycling.
Many thanks to my colleague, Vanessa, for the fantastic photos!