Only a year old, the Waste Minimizers have already made a significant impact on the University of Maine campus. Taking over the move-out donations from the Green Campus Initiative and spreading quickly through social media, the club immediately made an impact on the UMaine community.
“I heard it was starting and I hadn’t even gone to any meetings when I met the Vice President who told me I should come,” said Club President Mazy Karuzis. She, along with almost all of the current officers, heard about the club through word of mouth and immediately became attached to the useful skills they gained with the club.
“The workshops are creative and it is a fun, sustainable way to craft,” said Tara Munroe, in charge of Community Outreach. “A lot of people start by feeling hesitant but quickly get hooked on the workshopping.” Some students feel a barrier in getting involved with the group because of its seemingly targeted demographic.
“The name is sometimes a misnomer because we are mostly in very similar majors and many people think they need that to get involved,” said Karuzis. “The whole point of the club is to get people who aren’t already involved involved.” Not just for the self-labeled ‘crunchy’ or ‘granola,’ but for any college student who could save money on clothes, cleaning supplies, crafts, etc. While many of the officers are majoring in an environmental science-related degree, many of them are also studying diverse subjects.
“Even besides the fun and useful things we make, it’s a great place to make friends that have the same interests as you,” said Soren Schoennagel, the Vice President. Clearly the social dimension of the club is just as important as its environmental mission.
In a slideshow at their first meeting of the semester, the club’s mission was stated simply as “to keep things sustainable” and one of the “ways to start” was to “share knowledge.” It seems that the community-driven transfer of skills is at the core of what the club believes and works towards in all that they do.
The club has collaborated with other groups on campus in many different ways; getting help from one of the fraternities in a trash-pickup, a workshop with mushroom club, and an upcoming composting lab with Terrell House Permaculture & Gardening. The officers are highly involved in the campus community, many playing in club sports, getting involved with other clubs, DJing at the radio station, etc.
This Wednesday, the group will be hosting a Mend and Revive workshop, one of their most popular events. Students can bring in damaged or ill-fitting clothes and breathe new life into them with the guidance of some more experienced peers.
“It’s exciting to watch it progress; we had only two people first meeting last semester and now more than fifteen here tonight,” said McKenna Chappel, who also deals with community outreach.
Over the course of just a short year, Waste Minimizers has planted itself firmly in the UMaine community through skill-focused workshops and communal sharing of knowledge. The environment the officers create at their meetings is overwhelmingly welcoming and friendly. Not a single person seemed to feel out of place sitting to listen to officer introductions there were even free cookies after!
If you have spare time, the club runs from 4p.m. to 6 p.m. every other Wednesday starting this week in the Den at the Memorial Union.
