UCSC #MyLastTrash Video Contest

Overview

Do you and your friends have a penchant for graphic design and/or videography? Do you want to help the environment while using these skills and win prizes? We’re looking for a person or team to create a poster, a video, or both to help raise awareness about the growing use and disposal of PLA, a biodegradable plastic commonly used in disposable cups and cutlery.

Why PLA?

PLA or Polylactic acid is touted as a carbon neutral bioplastic that can be composted instead of thrown away or recycled. You will have come across PLA at the Dining Halls, Perk Coffee or in on-campus makerspaces – it is commonly found as disposable cutlery, cups, lids and as “ink” for 3D printers. Sounds like the perfect solution to remove petroleum-based plastic products from the waste stream – right? While it is technically true that PLA is compostable, it is not without its own problems. PLA requires very specific conditions only found at industrial composting plants to decompose. That means it could take up to one thousand years to degrade if it ends up in the wrong facility.

There is little information or literature available to help identify PLA and make sure it is composted correctly, often it is tossed into the plastic recycling or trash bins. Once in the recycling stream, it is almost impossible to separate from traditional plastics. Moreover, the use of PLA in laboratories and makerspaces is on the rise, as 3D printers become more accessible to students for academic and personal projects. In a learning environment or 3D printing course, we estimate that over 60% of the material used to develop a single 3D printed design is tossed into the trash. Behind the scenes, we’re investigating the feasibility of on-site recycling by extruding a mix of PLA and other plastics back into the filament or the “ink” for 3D printers. You can find out more about this new PLA waste stream here.This would be a win for the campus, as it removes the need to transport away our waste, ensures a local 3D printer filament supply, reduces petroleum-based plastic waste, and helps UCSC in its goal to become zero net waste by 2020. As part of the #MyLastTrash Movement, we want to raise awareness around this new waste stream and make sure that all users of PLA are informed and are able to dispose of it in a manner that is best for the environment, and we need your help!

Timeline

All media proposals, poster, video, or other submissions, are due by 11:59 pm April 2, 2018 (Final day of winter quarter). Finalists will be notified during the first week of spring quarter and asked to discuss their vision with the competition administrators, from which the winning proposal(s) will be selected. The winner(s) will have up to a month to finalize their designs and videos and have access to the competition administrators’ professional videography equipment during this time. We ask that the team checks-in weekly and notify the committee of any needs or issues.

Prizes, a loaded $500 credit card, will be awarded upon final submission.

Design Guidelines and Required Information

Posters

Posters will ultimately be hung in labs, dining halls, and community areas near waste bins to help consumers appropriately dispose of PLA materials. Information displayed on the poster must clearly communicate the waste streams for PLA plastic, and the potential impacts of improper sorting, including the fact that PLA can potentially contaminate traditionally recycled plastics and that PLA in a landfill may take 100 – 1000 years to break down – the same timeframe as a PET plastic bottle.

Posters will:

Be 16in x 20in and hung in portrait orientation.
Include all of, and clearly convey the required information above.
Include the artist’s name and organization (if applicable). A 3 in x 2 in area may be reserved for text or a logo to promote your work.

Videos

Videos will be made available on social media and assorted sustainability-related websites both on and off campus. They will help to spread the #MyLastTrash message of reducing or eliminating improper sorting of PLA waste. The video should clearly communicate the same information required in the posters (see above), with the additional description of the least impact waste solutions. For PLA to be composted, an industrial facility is required and even then it may take longer than 30 day cycles typically implemented in these facilities (up to 90 days to break down). Finally, the video should address the benefits of a local solution.

Videos will:

Be 2 to 4 minutes long.
Include all of, and clearly convey the required information above.
Be appropriate for social media that represents UCSC.
Artists are encouraged to promote themselves with 15 to 20 second production logo and/or credits.

How to apply

The first round of artwork is due by 11:59 pm April 7, 2018 Submit your idea for a video, poster or written proposal to S-Lab@ucsc.edu. Click these links to find out more about #MyLastTrash and the 3D printer recycling project.