Amy Drew never imagined that digging through trash at the break of dawn would be part of her Master of Business Administration studies. Yet, that is exactly what she and classmates did to gain crucial data for an MBA operations management course last fall. For their research project “Contamination Station,” Drew and project teammates Ashley O’Bruba, Brooke Morrison and Rachel Slade dug into ways to discourage people from tossing cups into recycling bins at Atkins Library. They wanted to help the collection of recyclables on campus run more smoothly, since the pile of misdirected items can hurt employee morale, affect efficient operations and add cost and time.
“While the goal of our project was to demonstrate the learning competencies of the course, we were over the moon that our intervention actually had a positive impact on people’s recycling habits,” Drew said. “It was rewarding to know that our work could help a real-life problem and benefit the recycling team at UNC Charlotte, who were instrumental in giving us access to collect the data and business context. Dr. Fraher’s zest for teaching and genuine commitment to helping every student succeed also played a big role in helping our project get to the next level.”
The students joined Charlotte’s recycling team at Atkins Library from 6 to 8:15 a.m., learning that many items were in the wrong bins, with coffee cups ranking as the main culprit. They designed new signage and gathered subsequent data showing their signs with vibrant red coloring and fewer words reduced the errors.