Theology – 鶹Ƶ Wed, 21 Jan 2026 23:15:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cropped-favicon_logo-32x32.jpg Theology – 鶹Ƶ 32 32 Developing PR for Organics and Recycling /projects/developing-pr-for-organics-and-recycling-3/ /projects/developing-pr-for-organics-and-recycling-3/#respond Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:37:21 +0000 https://portal.epicn.org/case-stories/developing-pr-for-organics-and-recycling/ Read More... from Developing PR for Organics and Recycling

]]> The City of Elk River has long been a leader in recycling participation and organics recycling involvement. In fact, the city was one of the first to implement single stream recycling and household organics collection in the state of Minnesota. Elk River organizes recycling collection for single family homes, splitting these residents between two haulers; the haulers deliver recyclables to different facilities, sometimes causing confusion between residents as to how their recycling process works. Also, the recycling industry changes frequently and rapidly, and city staff struggle to create a simple to understand process for homeowners. Also, organics recycling is voluntary for homeowners, and staff would like to see participation increase. Furthermore, landlords of apartment complexes and businesses organize their own recycling and compost collection systems, which do not follow a standard set of guidelines. Across these different constituencies, Elk River would like to improve city residents’ understanding of and participation in both recycling and organics collection.

]]> Many communities around the country and world have recognized the harmful effects that polystyrene take-out containers have on the environment and have instituted bans on their use. Elk River is home to one of the state’s largest municipal solid waste landfills. The landfill’s staff and surrounding community often deal with litter from the landfill and a large portion of this litter is polystyrene containers. These products use valuable space in the landfill and take thousands of years to decompose. They contaminate our waters, harm our wildlife, and cause deterioration in our community’s aesthetics. Therefore, the City would like to investigate the costs and benefits of different options for discouraging the use of polystyrene take-out containers, including a ban or tax, or incentives for encouraging the use of alternatives.

Students in Christian Faith and the Management Professions will engage in research about the effects of the use of polystyrene containers on the common good, taking into account various stakeholders such as businesses that are harmed by their use, businesses that benefit from their use, residents of different economic backgrounds, future generations, and the earth. They will examine ways in which governments and citizens (both individual and corporate) in other communities have worked to promote the common good by decreasing the use of polystyrene containers.

Project Overview Poster
City Outcomes
The Environmental Division will be meeting with county staff to discuss a county-wide ban of polystyrene, reducing the amount of litter in our community. This ban is now in place in Minneapolis and St. Louis Park. The City is interested in being the first county or outer-ring suburb to put a ban in place.

]]> Many communities around the country and world have recognized the harmful effects that plastic shopping bags have on the environment and have instituted bans or taxes on their use. Elk River is home to one of the state’s largest municipal solid waste landfills. The landfill staff and community often deal with plastic shopping bag litter from the landfill, and plastic shopping bags also become stuck in the City’s waste to energy plant machinery. Plastic shopping bag litter contaminates our waters, harms wildlife, and causes deterioration of the community’s aesthetics. Therefore, the City would like to investigate the costs and benefits of different options for discouraging the use of plastic bags, including a ban or tax, or incentives for encouraging the use of alternatives. Students will engage in research about the effects of the use of plastic bags on the common good, taking into account various stakeholders such as businesses that are harmed by their use, businesses that benefit from their use, residents of different economic backgrounds, future generations, and the earth. They will examine ways in which governments and citizens (both individual and corporate) in other communities have worked to promote the common good by decreasing the use of plastic bags.

Project Overview Poster
From the SCP Blog: Decreasing the Use of Plastic Shopping Bags
City Outcomes
The Environmental Division will meet with county staff to discuss a county-wide ban or incentive program for decreasing the use of plastic shopping bags, based on students’ research about the costs and benefits of plastic shopping bags for various stakeholders in the community.

]]> Sustainable Communities Partnership

Website |

The Sustainable Communities Partnership (SCP) collaborates with cities and government agencies to integrate community-identified sustainability projects into St. Thomas courses across disciplines engaging students in real-world, applied research and innovative problem-solving. Our partnerships seek to catalyze systems-level change towards human and ecological well-being in the Twin Cities area while preparing students for the complexities of problem-solving in contemporary society.

Since SCP’s launch in Spring 2016, over 2,000 students from more than 100 courses across 26 disciplines have participated in over 150 local and regional sustainability projects.

Our focus is on multi-year partnerships with communities seeking to make systemic changes toward interconnected economic, social, and ecological sustainability. We partner with cities, watershed districts, regional government agencies, non-profits focused on city sustainability, and on-campus initiatives.

Inspired by the transformative impacts of efforts that bridge art and sustainability, SCP launched .  SCP Arts develops partnerships and projects through which students across majors collaborate with local artists, writers, and communities to translate their project findings into artwork, bringing to life community-identified sustainability goals for people of all ages.  We have collaborated with partners on public art installations, such as the , on community exhibits, including , , and .  We also collaborate with writers and researchers to engage in community-centered explorations of .

Fun Facts about SCP

“SCP has been essential in showing how our education ties in with the UST mission. This project has allowed us to analyze real-world data, collaborate with classmates, and present solutions to problems that affect real communities. We are applying skills we have cultivated in the classroom to projects that advance the common good,” stated an Economics student whose project team determined that Delano, MN (pop. 5,464) could generate net savings of $854,000 over ten years with energy efficiency upgrades.

Year Program Established | Fall 2015
Year Program Launched | Spring 2016
Country | US
Federal Region of Program | 5
Public or Private Institution | Private
Number of students at institution | 10,245

Highlight Articles/Videos

Partners

2016 | City of Delano • Population: 5,464
2016 – 2017 | City of Elk River • Population: 23,746
2016 – 2020 | Mississippi Watershed Management Organization
2016 – 2017 | Freshwater Society
2016 – 2017 | Tiny Footprint Coffee
2017 – 2019 | City of Big Lake • Population: 10,060
2017 – 2019 | PLACE’s Via Development in St. Louis Park, MN
2017 – 2024 | Metropolitan Council
2017 – 2024 | Metro Transit
2019 – 2020 | Pillsbury United Waite House Urban Farm, Minneapolis, MN
2019 – 2021 | City of Cottage Grove • Population: 35,632
2020 – 2023 | Caponi Art Park, Eagan, MN
2020 – 2023 | NūLoop Partners and Mpls Downtown Council, Minneapolis, MN
2020 – 2023 | City of Woodbury • Population: 70,840
2021 – 2022 | Saint Paul Almanac
2022 – 2025 | Center for Mission, Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis Creation Care Team
2022 – 2025 | Great Plains Institute, in partnership with GreenStep Cities

Contact Info

Maria Dahmus
Director, Sustainable Communities Partnership
(651) 962-6391
medahmus@stthomas.edu

Banner image graciously provided by: University of St. Thomas Photo 

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