Community

Globe

Global Leadership Outreach for a Better Environment
Project: Recycled Plastics & 3D Printing

Project Leads:

Jasmine Seitz – JasmineSeitz@usf.edu
Lacey Vasconcelos-Brogioli – LMV3@usf.edu
Hector Fontanet – HectorFontanet@usf.edu
Luke Westlake – Lewestlake@usf.edu

Saving the world and making cool stuff! This project protects the environment from plastic waste by taking used pieces of plastic and converting it into material for 3D printing. The Precious Plastic Process follows a chain of steps that allows us to shred single-use plastics into small bits, then melt those bits into a filament. We then use this filament to 3D print products that are meant to be useful and kept out of our landfills and oceans.

Project: Textile Composting

Project Lead:

Ericka Leigh, PCGS alumni

The average American throws away 82 lbs of clothes per year, of which 85% is landfilled or burned, leaching toxins into the air, soil, and groundwater. Rather than landfilling our fabrics, Ericka Leigh seeks to reduce textile waste by composting it instead, not only diverting reusable items from the waste stream, but also creating soil organic carbon, which pulls CO2 from the atmosphere and adds regenerative nutrients back to the Earth. By participating in this project, students will gain hands-on experience in waste management, composting, testing for soil toxicity, and learning about the unsustainable practices rampant in the fashion industry. Led by Ericka Leigh, compost expert and founder of Sewn Apart, students have the opportunity to gain a unique skill and knowledge-base applicable for future sustainability measures across various fields.

Project: Hydroponics, Aeroponics, and Aquaponics

Project Leads:

Sheila Sullivan – sheilahsullivan@usf.edu
Samantha Vorce – svorce@usf.edu

Growing delicious healthy food sustainably is fun and rewarding. Hydroponics, Aeroponics, and Aquaponics are soil-free gardening methods that use less water and energy to grow food three times faster than conventional practices. Aeroponics, aka vertical gardening, uses air and water to grow plants. A reservoir below pumps water and nutrients to the top, where gravity cascades the water down, misting the plant roots with food. Aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture. The plants and fish have a symbiotic closed-loop relationship where the plants filter the water in exchange the fish excrement fertilizes the plants. There are a variety of hydroponics systems and designs ready for nexus thinkers to learn and grow. Join us!