For at least three years, Temple University has placed special event move-out dumpsters on streets where students heavily populate areas off campus to prevent trash pile-ups from those moving out of off-campus housing.
Although the dumpsters help reduce move-out waste, they’re not a sustainable solution to litter near Main Campus because they’re only available for short periods over the summer. For years, local residents have experienced environmental injustices from students leaving waste in their neighborhood.
While Temple’s campus appears pristine, stepping off campus paints a different picture. Campus waste management includes a comprehensive system for keeping Temple’s grounds, but off-campus cleaning is left to the Philadelphia Sanitation Department, which isn’t equipped to manage excessive waste from students.
The university has a responsibility to keep North Philadelphia clean because many students live in the area temporarily, yet leave a trail of waste and disrespect for their neighbors who permanently reside there. Temple must coordinate university-wide sustainable waste management with neighborhood residents to assess and implement clean-up initiatives and continuously require students to learn and practice proper waste management.
Temple students leave their trash out days before trash day each week, causing garbage to litter the streets. The “Temple area” was one of the most-littered areas in Philadelphia, according to the 2019 Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet Progress Report, which has since had its funding cut.
“I’ve been cleaning for 20 years, and it’s like it’s getting worse,” said Judith Robinson, a neighborhood resident, chairperson for the 32nd Democratic Ward Registered Community Organization and director of Susquehanna Clean Up/Pick Up, Inc.
Beyond the move-out dumpsters, Temple’s off-campus waste management efforts include student and employee volunteer efforts and a partnership with One Day At a Time, a community-based organization, to clean up the blocks. Temple has also collaborated with Philadelphia to send additional trash trucks during move-out week, said Ken Kaiser, Temple’s senior vice president and chief operating officer.
Temple’s Office of Sustainability and other offices run many programs to combat litter, like Eco Reps, an educational program encouraging sustainable action on campus, but they are not required throughout the university.
Temple’s off-campus waste management efforts may be effective short term, but the trash will persist on neighborhood blocks until long-term, sustainable practices are adopted. Block clean-ups only produce temporary improvements before litter reappears and the university can only build a trusting relationship with the community if it holds continuous conversations between local residents and students about waste management.
“There’s so many ways that universities can really be agents of positive change, but it really requires strategic thinking, working with schools and community groups,” said Christina Rosan, a geography and urban studies professor. “There’s a lot of efforts to improve at Temple, but there’s a lot of rebuilding trust that has to happen.”
Community members are the most affected by the trash and an increase in bugs and rodents, so they deserve to have a primary voice in how to improve waste management.
The university should expand its trash trucks off-campus to pick up trash left by students living in the neighborhood, Robinson said.
“It needs to be a comprehensive sanitation program,” Robinson said. “The whole city is a filthy mess, so the students come here, see how nasty the city is and how we allow them to do things and they just get on along with it until someone tells them.”
Students moving to North Philadelphia and littering, unlike they would in their own homes, is an example of environmental racism because they are adding to pollution in a neighborhood of color.
“The idea that you come into a Black and Brown neighborhood, and you think that somehow trash is okay or being a bad citizen is okay really is about environmental justice and respect for people,” Rosan said.
It’s essential to require continuous conversations with all students about environmental justice that involve learning and practicing proper waste disposal. Asking all students to participate in at least one Office of Sustainability event, like Stories of Sustainability, every semester as a graduation requirement would educate more students about their off-campus impact.
“A lot of students just think it’s not really their problem,” said Caroline Merrill, a senior environmental engineering major. “When we’re moving into a community that wasn’t even designed for students to be here in the first place, it’s our responsibility to keep it clean for people who still do live here.”
For now, students can connect with off-campus organizations, like Susquehanna Clean Up/Pick Up, Inc., educate themselves on waste management in Philadelphia and participate in clean-ups around the neighborhood.
Temple will be implementing a program to urge landlords to help with their resident’s trash disposal later in the Fall semester, Kaiser said. For landlords to receive certain designations, they must provide trash receptacles and be responsible for their resident’s waste.
Temple’s temporary solutions for waste management off-campus will allow the litter problem to persist until sustainability, continuous conversations and community collaboration are emphasized in its efforts. By developing a strategic “action plan,” as Robinson suggested, Temple can become a better neighbor.
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