TO: Jacob Stewart

FROM: Samantha Ford

DATE: November 3, 2015

SUBJECT: Plan Of Action

Introduction: Outlining the Strategy

The goal here is to up the recycling game here at UCF by increasing the number of recycling

bins on campus. Ideally, that means that the ratio between trash cans and recycling bins would be

raised to a nice, even 1:1. In order to do this, I need to target UCF administration. Ultimately, the

budget needs to be increased, as the additional costs for labor and the possible costs of the bins

are this initiative’s biggest constraint. The woman who is in charge of the university’s budget is

Donna Dubuc—she’s the associate director of university budget. Therefore, the pressure must be

focused on her and her coworkers, and this is going to be done through a couple of different

tactics.

Tactic One: Making Alliances

Clearly, as the Associate Director of UCF Recycles, Brian Wormwood is an important man to

make a partner. He oversees the entire recycling program, and can give me accurate information

regarding the current recycling statistics here at UCF. More importantly, he can help outline

what exactly needs to be done in order for this initiative to take place. Since he’s in charge, he

will have a clear understanding of these obstacles and any others that may need to be overcome

to push this through. He and I are most certainly on the same side when it comes to recycling: we

want more of it. Perhaps my initiative is lofty, but if it works it ultimately benefits his program

and UCF in general. Together, we can make a real impact on the state of recycling here at this

university. For that reason, one of my primary tactics here is simple: get a conversation started

and build it into a partnership. Discuss what the current state of recycling is at UCF, explain to

him what I’d like to see happen, and figure out what can be done or needs to be done to make

this a likely possibility. From there, it would be a lot easier to figure out how to pitch and direct

the initiative to UCF administration.

Another important—and powerful—partner to make is Emily Dovydaitus, the Health and

Sustainability Coordinator of SGA. Her resources are broader than mine are to spread the word

and get students listening, and she’s already made a statement in the past about recycling when

she filled the Reflecting Pond with 250,000 plastic bottles. As a member of SGA, she also holds

significantly more ability to put pressure on the administration to increase the budget, as she

probably understands better the nuances of UCF administration. It’d be a different angle to play

at in regards to persuading the administration to increase the budget, and a different perspective

towards what students can do to put pressure on them.

With both of these people, it’s important to build goodwill, for it is far more likely to get far with

this initiative by keeping them on my side. After all, they are not my target: the target is UCF

administration. Even there, though, taking care not to antagonize them is key.

Tactic Two: Raising Awareness

The student body is an important tool for this initiative as their support can provide a large mass

of pressure on UCF administration. In order for this to happen though, there are a few things that

need to happen, the first obviously being getting the students on the side of the initiative. We

have, for the most part, been conditioned not to give a second thought to what we’re throwing

away. Most people trash recyclables without a second thought, and those who wouldn’t are in

too much a rush to get to their next class to hunt down a recycling bin. For this reason, their

habits must be challenged, and they must begin thinking about their actions.

To do this, I propose that posters be put on the trash cans around campus. There would be a

couple of different ones, in order to appeal to provoke a few different lines of thought in people.

One could be very plain, with the simple inquiry of “Could you have recycled that?” The second

kind would direct people to the nearest recycling bin, in order to put things in perspective. A

third kind of poster would feature pictures of the Reflecting Pond filled with 250,000 plastic

bottles—titled “Spirit Splash? Not anymore.” This would hit close to home with many students,

since Spirit Splash is such a widely anticipated event each year. All of these combined would

hopefully get the students thinking about what can be done to help improve the recycling

situation here at UCF.

These posters would be effective, I believe, because of their anonymity. There’s no face for

anyone to pin this movement to, which I believe helps steer people away from brushing it off as

someone’s hippie mumblings. It also shifts the focus away from any specific person and towards

the initiative itself, which helps eliminate any bias people may hold towards me because of my

being a freshman. Ultimately, it would allow credibility to be based more on the initiative itself,

and not the face behind it. This will hopefully enable enough support to be garnered to transform

the initiative as a whole into a mass movement of sorts, where there’s many voices melding

together to form one clear message instead of one particularly loud voice shouting it alone.

Tactic Three: Petitioning (Done Right)

In order to be able to put the appropriate amount of pressure on my target, having the student

body on the initiative’s side is critical, as stated previously. The hope is that the posters would

generate enough interest that petitioning will allow for some actual signatures, as it is typically

the case that people ignore petitioners on campus. I do realize, however, that there has to be

some other way to draw people into giving the petitioner—and petition—the time of day. There

are a couple of ways this could be done.

Since we’re talking about recycling, and the area by the library where most petitioners stand is so

covered with trees, some brave soul could be sitting from one of the lower branches to catch

people’s attention. People also tend to take a lot of amusement from those dressed in costumes,

so perhaps the petitioner could dress up as Captain Planet. It’d be funny, yes, but there are

enough people out there that would be amused enough to want a picture or something of the sort,

which is just enough to get some information to them. He could even strike up a deal—one

picture for a signature. Tactics such as these could definitely have the potential to get those

much-needed signatures and gather the sort of support we’d need to properly pressure the UCF

administration to consider this initiative when deciding how to portion out the budget.

Furthermore, if enough were gathered, the signatures could be delivered in a fashion similar to

what Avaaz did to the World Health Organization, except instead of pigs use plastic water

bottles, each one representing a certain number of signatures. They could be labeled, “This bottle

represents such-and-such number of people who feel this bottle doesn’t have a fair chance at

being recycled.” If enough signatures were gathered, this would garner a lot of attention with

UCF-affiliated news sources—such as Knight News—and increase the amount of pressure on

UCF administration to respond.