Sustainability and the conscientious college student

I’m sure the topic of sustainability is one that you’re all too familiar with. With headlines screaming a countdown to irreversible damage every other week, government officials making flippant statements about the reliability of science, and the current global pandemic shifting the entire population to disposables, it’s not weighing lightly on the minds of those at St. Catherine University.

As college students, we’re coming into adulthood with a responsibility on our shoulders to reverse countless years of damage to our planet, and while switches to plastic-centric dining are necessary to keep the general public safe from a dangerous virus, I know we’re all still feeling a level of guilt about the exponential growth of our carbon footprints.

According to a study done on waste, in Minnesota alone, almost 3 million tons of solid waste will be disposed of this year. That statistic is terrifying, but there are still some things within our power as college age women to reduce waste.

Now, there are some more well-known sustainability options available, such as using metal straws ($4.99 from Walmart), bringing your own metal cutlery to the dining hall when possible ($1 for a pack of 3 from our best friend, Target) and switching from paper towels in your dorm room to a reusable towel. However, the biggest switches you can make are in your wardrobe and your bathroom.

According to a report by Christina Dean, the textile industry is the second largest producer of waste in the world, creating an annual total of 92 million pounds of waste. That boils down to one full garbage truck of textile waste being landfilled or burned every second. While lots of luxury brands are opting for more sustainable options, the industry is still dominated by fast fashion brands such as SheIn, Fashion Nova, H&M, and Urban Outfitters.

A few awesome (and fully thrifted) outfits!

The biggest impact that we can have on textile waste as college students is to make the switch from fast fashion to secondhand clothing. You’d be surprised by the gems found at thrift stores around campus. The Goodwill in Eagan, just a 15 minute drive from campus, is full of name brand basics such as Tommy Hilfager, J Crew, and Coach, as well as one of a kind vintage pieces that’ll make you stand out from the crowd. TurnStyle is just steps from campus, located on Highland Parkway, and is a great place if you’re looking for shoes and workwear. On top of clothing, you can find fun décor for your dorm room at not only TurnStyle and Goodwill, but also Mall of St Paul, a fantastic antique store with a huge assortment of furniture and knick-knacks. I know I feel fantastic in my thrifted clothing every time I wear it, and I bet you will too!

Another area of our lives that creates a lot of waste is the bathroom. From plastic toothbrushes to makeup wipes to menstrual products, the average human creates 4.9 pounds of trash per day. Some switches to make in your hygiene routine include investing in a bamboo toothbrush (found for as low as $4 from Amazon), using reusable makeup pads and a makeup remover instead of makeup wipes to cleanse your face, and making the switch to a menstrual cup over pads or tampons.

In a 2010 UK beach clean, a cleaning crew found an average of 23 pads and nine tampon applicators per one kilometer of land. If a person who menstruates uses 21 menstrual products in a cycle, and has, say, 480 cycles in their lifetime, (three per day for seven days, and 12 per year for 40 years), that equates to 10,080 menstrual products that end up in the trash in one person’s lifetime. That is an astronomical amount of waste for one person, and imagine how many menstruating people there are on Earth today. Spoiler: that’s a lot of waste.

A personal switch to help combat this buildup is the menstrual cup. (Talisi, $9.99 for three on Amazon) They last for up to five years, which with my estimations from above, equals 1260 menstrual products. If that’s not proof enough as to why you would want to switch, they also last for up to 12 hours and can be cleaned with dish soap when not in use! I’ve used one for almost two and a half years and I’ll never go back to using disposable menstrual products.

I spoke with current Katie Becky LaCanne, ‘24 (Art History) about her decision to switch to using Ponds Cold Cream and reusable makeup pads. For some context, Pond’s has been around for over 150 years, starting as a face oil company and expanding to include their famous Cold Cream in 1914, and many other products as the years and trends went on.

Becky chose to switch to Ponds during the run of her junior year high school musical. “I was using heavy-duty show makeup at the time, and when we were provided face wipes, I had to use three!” LaCanne says. She purchased a set of 20 reusable face pads from Package Free Shop ($20) and a pot of Cold Cream from Walmart ($4.97) and never went back.

“I liked how easy it was to remove the makeup, and with so little product! I have the same pot today that I started out with two years ago.” says LaCanne. Would she recommend making the switch? “Yeah, of course! It takes makeup off so much easier, and if it’s sustainable, why not?”

Exactly. Why not?

Sustainability is a scary issue to think about. As individuals, we can’t do the heavy lifting that is necessary to reverse the damage done to our planet, but simple switches like makeup wipes to reusable pads and cold cream, or tampons to a menstrual cup are definitely good places to start, and can reduce the weight on our shoulders significantly.