My taxi rolled up to the curb a few buildings away from 83 Quay in Haymarket, Sydney Australia. Still disoriented from the 13 hour and 45 minute flight from SFO, the damp 95 degree heat and the dizzying ride on the left side of the road, I walked into the Urbanest Student Accommodation— an apartment style building for students from US universities like NYU studying abroad as well as students studying at nearby Sydney universities. I was greeted by a very friendly combination of Urbanest and NYU Sydney staff… and all the disposable plastic water bottles my heart desired. Although my reusable NYUGREeN water bottle had only a sip of warm water left in it, I resisted the urge to take the chilled plastic bottles I was offered each time it became obvious that the foreign heat was taking a toll on me.

Plastic and waste

When I finally got up to my room, I found that there was yet another plastic water bottle sitting on my desk.The mop bucket was the best I could do without a real recycling bin in the kitchen. There was no information about recycling in the building or any signs indicating nearby bins. I found out shortly after that there is in fact a recycling bin in the building, but without any encouragement from the staff or general information about recycling in the building along with the single waste bin in each kitchen, it seems unlikely that recycling is regular behavior at Urbanest. At the Science House, where classes are held, there are clearly marked trash and recycling bins in the Student Center, however, they aren’t advertised during orientation. Read more