University of Kentucky

Immersive Recycling: The Merging of Art and Audits to Encourage Behavioral Change

Grade Level at Time of Presentation

Sophomore

Major

Interior Design

Institution 24-25

University of Kentucky

KY House District #

District 28

KY Senate District #

District 37

Department

College of Design

Abstract

Strategies for the ways in which sustainability is incorporated in design education commonly revolve around “reduce, reuse, recycle”. Much attention in the interior design body of knowledge has focused on sustainable design practices, factors influencing the adoption, and integration of sustainable design knowledge into the curriculum. Although students from CIDA accredited programs are exposed to the principles of sustainable design and apply these strategies to their coursework, the actual materials often used in teaching and project submissions are paper-based. Thus, interior design students while learning about sustainability are simultaneously consuming the most prevalent item found in the waste stream. This is particularly important because Americans produce daily almost three times as much waste as the global average. In fact, several of the most prevalent items in municipal solid waste could be recycled, such as paper-based products, plastics, and metals. This begs the question: Are interior design students integrating sustainability principles into their design projects without acknowledging sustainable actions in their own practice? Waste audits have proven useful to draw attention to the material consuming nature of the design process while art installations have been successfully used to advocate behavioral change. This research conducted a waste audit to understand what recycling occurred and what materials were incorrectly recycled by current design students. The waste audit included sorting all the recycling bins in the building and sorting them into different categories. At the completion of the audit, materials collected were then utilized to create an immersive piece of art with the goal of encouraging behavioral change towards sustainable practices within the teaching and learning of design. Furthermore, the use of different formats have been incorporated to reach students and inform them of better practices and options related to sustainability.

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Immersive Recycling: The Merging of Art and Audits to Encourage Behavioral Change

Strategies for the ways in which sustainability is incorporated in design education commonly revolve around “reduce, reuse, recycle”. Much attention in the interior design body of knowledge has focused on sustainable design practices, factors influencing the adoption, and integration of sustainable design knowledge into the curriculum. Although students from CIDA accredited programs are exposed to the principles of sustainable design and apply these strategies to their coursework, the actual materials often used in teaching and project submissions are paper-based. Thus, interior design students while learning about sustainability are simultaneously consuming the most prevalent item found in the waste stream. This is particularly important because Americans produce daily almost three times as much waste as the global average. In fact, several of the most prevalent items in municipal solid waste could be recycled, such as paper-based products, plastics, and metals. This begs the question: Are interior design students integrating sustainability principles into their design projects without acknowledging sustainable actions in their own practice? Waste audits have proven useful to draw attention to the material consuming nature of the design process while art installations have been successfully used to advocate behavioral change. This research conducted a waste audit to understand what recycling occurred and what materials were incorrectly recycled by current design students. The waste audit included sorting all the recycling bins in the building and sorting them into different categories. At the completion of the audit, materials collected were then utilized to create an immersive piece of art with the goal of encouraging behavioral change towards sustainable practices within the teaching and learning of design. Furthermore, the use of different formats have been incorporated to reach students and inform them of better practices and options related to sustainability.