Each year, BYU–Hawaii students walk down the streets surrounding the Laie Hawaii Temple and pick up litter. While this is not an unusual sight in Laie, in this case the students are also writing down what they have collected. Each individual piece of litter is assigned a category, and a tally-mark is made on a sheet of paper on a clipboard. This is the trash survey, the first one was done in 2019.
According to Dr. Spencer Ingley, assistant professor in the Faculty of Sciences, the purpose of the trash survey is to take stock of what kind of waste the citizens of Laie produce and, more importantly, what kind of waste they leave lying around.
Ingley said the amount of trash in Laie increased from 2020 to 2021. This is troubling, he said, because the amount of trash recorded in 2020 was over double what was recorded in 2019.
Ingley speculated that this overall increase is related to COVID-19 and not just because of the face masks they found. He explained because the restaurants are closed, more people are eating takeout which increases the amount of waste produced. Additionally, hand wipes are tossed aside instead of thrown away. The water bottles provided at the Seasider Safe COVID-19 tests were also found discarded around Laie.
“What we found was the level of trash seems to be increasing. … We are trying to brainstorm ways of motivating the community to pick up after themselves and prevent people from littering,” Ingley explained.
One of the solutions Ingley’s class came up with was involving the Kahuku High School football team in a public awareness campaign. However, at this time, it is still just an idea, he explained.
Kylie Steskal, a senior biology major from Washington, participated in the trash survey. “I think the most shocking thing to me was just how much ... trash [was] left on campus. I mean I love BYUH. I feel like most people touched by this school do, so it was just really surprising that campus had not been better taken care of. It seems like such a little thing to hold on to your trash just a few extra minutes to keep such a special place beautiful.”
Steskal encouraged students to be mindful of making sure their trash makes it to the trash can and suggested picking up one extra piece of trash per day. “If everyone did that it is hard to imagine how much BYUH would shine, and I believe that would radiate out to the people who spend time on campus. … Personally, I do not think it would take a miracle to make BYUH a litter free beauty.”
Most garbage makes it to the trash can, but some particular articles were found on the road, sidewalks or in the waterways, the survey showed. Disposable convenience items, such as plastic bottles, aluminum cans and various straws, cups, plates and utensils from takeout food are most common. But some surprising things were found too, like shoes and other articles of clothing.
Sterling Kerr, a senior biology major from Utah, described his experience participating in the trash survey. “We went around … to see the cleanliness rating of our community. A bunch of students went in a bunch of different directions. The key was to be advantageous in looking in bushes, people’s driveways and in the road for any kind of trash … trying to see if there was any kind of pattern, if there was more of this than that.”
While conducting the survey, Kerr said they found paper bags, a lot of cigarette butts and bottle caps. They even found a sock that had grass growing through it.
Community members stopped to talk to the students and expressed appreciation for their efforts to keep the neighborhood looking nice, Kerr added.
Steskal, however, said she did not get the chance to talk to community members because of the amount of work to do. “For how abandoned campus is, there was a surprisingly high trash count,” she said.
This year, the trash survey was focused on discovering how COVID-19 may have affected Laie litter, Ingley explained. A new category was added to the survey sheets: face masks. Because the 2020 survey was taken early in the year, 2021 data is used to more accurately assess the COVID-19-related litter.
Steskal and her partner, who picked up trash on the BYUH campus, found mostly water bottles, hair ties, plastic wrappers and pieces of weed whackers. However, “[face] masks were by no means rare,” she explained.