Ozzi boxes have been on campus since 2019 after receiving a grant for the Associated Students sustainability fund. Since then, there have been many changes made to continue the pursuit of a more sustainable campus.
The first year on campus, over 65,000 boxes had to be diverted from the landfill, according to Thomas Rider, director of auxiliary businesses for the AS. He began brainstorming ways to fix this issue. He noticed that other campuses who charged a buy-in for reusable containers only had about a 10% participation rate on campus.
“What we want to do is change culture here,” Rider said. “So I thought let’s go radical and not charge anyone anything.”
Reusable cups on campus, however, do cost an extra $1 with your purchase of a drink. But, if you bring your own mug or container, they will fill it with your drink free of charge.
The AS keeps track of the boxes and cups through inventory procedures. There is only an annual 30 to 40% return rate of the Ozzi boxes, Rider said.
“I am less concerned about getting boxes back,” Rider said. “If somebody takes a box and it’s at home filled with pencils or they’re using them for their own lunch, fantastic. I feel like we’ve still won.”
If boxes or cups are thrown away, the custodians on campus do not retrieve them out of the trash. Rider is hoping to find a way to possibly get student volunteers to do this job in the future.
Compostable containers are not a possibility on campus since Butte County only has a compost program for food waste. Therefore, even if Chico State moved towards a compostable to-go box for the on campus restaurants, Butte County would still throw them into the landfill.
The Ozzi boxes have proved to be an effective sustainability effort beyond the fact that there is less trash waste. The new dishwasher that cleans the Ozzi boxes and cups was installed this year and saves around 350,000 gallons of water a year. Ozzi boxes also only cost around $10,000 to $15,000 annually compared to compostable boxes that would cost upwards of $30,000 a year.
Ozzi boxes can be returned to three different locations, including:
Sophia MacKinnon can be reached at [email protected].
