Moves to improve green culture and recycling activity on campus are being made by the SHUcycle challenge hosted by the Ecology Club. The challenge asked students and faculty members to document themselves participating in single-stream recycling, or properly disposing of recyclable materials, such as plastic water bottles and paper, in the campus recycling cans, according to Seton Hall’s website. It has since been closed but continues to spread the word about the green initiative, said environmental studies professor, Wanda Knapik. “The SHUcycle social media challenge ran for the month of March using Twitter and Instagram to raise awareness and gain traction,” Knapik said. “The program will now continue to build on that.” Fifty to 100 entries were submitted with the hashtag #SHUcycle in three weeks via social media, according to Knapik, faculty leader of the project. She also taught the environmental studies permaculture design course in which students first “launched” SHUcycle in November 2014. Elisa Kupelian, a senior public relations major, started her involvement with the Ecology Club this semester through an independent study she is working on that focuses on recycling around campus. She said that she was unsure about the student’s participation in the campaign. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure how easy it was going to be to get students on board,” Kupelian said. “Our campus doesn’t have the best recycling outlets and the ones that are currently there are not properly labeled.” However, Kupelian said that the initiative picked up through the semester. Kupelian said that while the University’s involvement has left her “impressed,” obstacles could still arise. “I believe the problem still lies in whether people care or not,” she said. According to Knapik, SHUcycle will be integrated into future freshmen orientation programs. Tiffany Do can be reached at tiffany.do@student.shu.edu.
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