Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Today, October 21, 2009 our group met with Phyllis to discuss specifics for the web site we will be creating for the Vermillion Recycling Center. Phyllis stressed that they need a site that can be easily updated because routes around the city are often changing to meet the highest population areas of people using the new curbside recycling program. She wants us to include in the site that this week they started curbside recycling for the downtown apartments, and because of this route changes will be taking place in the next few weeks. Phyllis stated that she would like there to be an announcements page that will most likely be changed weekly with recycling updates. She told us to make note of winter bin placements on the recycling page. Often, people place their recycling bins too close to the curb and when snowplows come by they get covered, so people need to move them closer to their houses. We plan to have the announcements located on the main page for people to see as soon as they access the site. We were also given another lesson on recycling plastics. We learned that not all plastics that are under the same category are the same. For example, just because a plastic says it is a #2 that does not mean it can automatically be recycled at the Vermillion Recycling Center. The recycling symbol and number tell us a formula family and there are approximately 6 to 12 variations of each number. The recycling center only takes plastic bottles and jugs, and no lids. Phyllis is also going to e-mail me a couple of graphics that she thinks are informative that we are going to include on the site. She also wants us to add information about the landfill. She told us that not all waste is buried- tires are chipped and become an energy source at Big Stone Power Plant and untreated lumber and trees become an energy source at POET Ethanol Plant. Metals and electronics are all recycled. Today we gained a lot of useful information to include on our site, and we hope that we are able to educate the city of Vermillion effectively through it.

Upon arrival at the Vermillion Recycling Center this morning, I was once again greeted by the two very large cats. As I sat down on a chair that appeared to be imitating a stuffed animal, because of all the cat hair that covered it, one of the large cats used my leg as a scratching post. To be honest I really just wanted to start the meeting and leave because cats and the pungent urine smell really make me nervous, but I knew I was there for a good cause and needed helpful information from Phyllis. I was surprised about the amount of information she provided us with today because I thought we had already gained a lot of knowledge from our last meeting. We also told Phyllis to e-mail us any time with anything else she wants us to include. Some of the information was repetitive but it is always nice to have a refresher. I feel that we really have a good grasp on the direction we want/need to take for this web site.

Our group is getting together on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 to begin working on the recycling web site. I am excited to begin this project and use our group creativity to create a great web site. In class we have talked about developing a deliverable to our clients that is professional and will help improve the organization, and I feel that our web site will do just that. We have discussed the needs of the Recycling Center and what Phyllis wants us to include, just as we had talked about in class, and I feel that we are going to take those elements and create a web site that we and the Recycling Center can be proud of.

10-8-09

This week the Vermillion Recycling group was unable to meet due to conflicting schedules. We are hoping to meet next week on or before Thursday. However, I have started researching other recycling center web sites around the United States and have came up with some ideas that we plan to run across my group when we meet. The Georgia Recycling Coalition has an excellent web site that I think is a great resource for our group to gain information from (http://www.myecoville.com/us /ga/home). There are links about how to start an office recycling program, how to properly dispose of construction and demolition waste, links to learn about environmental education, and much more. The web site is very easy to navigate and is definitely has a visual appeal. I hope that we are able to create a site just as appealing and helpful to the people of Vermillion.

I have also been looking through the pamphlet that Phyllis gave us for information and I have come up with various headlines that we may be able to use on our web site for the recycling center. Curbside recycling is new to the city and I think that everyone needs to be better informed about what it is and how it works. I think that we also need to include a map of the curbside collection routes. The main thing I think our group wants to focus on with the web site is to highlight on what and what not the Vermillion recycling center accepts. I think it would also be a good idea to include reasons why some items are not included to elude confusion and daily phone calls to the recycling center that Phyllis told us about. I am uninformed about many aspects about recycling, so I think it might be a good idea for my group members and I to come up with a list of questions that we have about recycling and research the answers and ask Phyllis about them, then include those questions and answers on the web site to inform the public. I also was unaware that the Vermillion Recycling Center allows people to bring in leftover paint to the center and the public is allowed to take some paint for their own use. I think that this is something that many people would be interested in knowing about.

After my conference with Mr. Grayson and talking about the projects Phyllis hopes for us to complete for the recycling center, I am feeling better that we talked about choosing one or two of the recycling centers needs to focus on. When our group meets next I hope to talk with them about what Mr. Grayson and I discussed, and probably discussed with them as well, about narrowing down the list. I think it is best if we choose the web site to focus on since it is an excellent way to inform the public. Phyllis wanted a commercial of some sort as well, and I think that if we include some sort of video to put on the web site would also be appealing to the recycling center and the public. If we aim our focus at one big project and perhaps one smaller one I feel that we will be able to create something helpful for the recycling center and informative for the public. Today in class we talked about a SWOT chart and I also think this would be something helpful for my group and Phyllis to discuss to really get a focus for what the recycling center needs.

Vermillion Recycling Group Meeting- 10-1-09

Today was our first meeting with Phyllis P. and we met with her at the Vermillion Recycling Center. We began the meeting with telling her about what we were there to accomplish, which is to help the recycling center with any service they need. Phyllis told us that the recycling center does not have a web site of their own; there is one through the city but it is often slow to be updated and it is not very helpful to the city of Vermillion. She stressed that she would like our group to produce a web site that is easy to navigate and can be updated without difficulty. Also, she talked about maybe creating a video to promote the materials that the city of Vermillion accepts at the recycling center. From conversing with Phyllis we learned a great deal about how the public is unaware of what can actually be recycled at the center. Glass, and any type of cardboard that is pressed and not corrugated are not accepted. We also learned about the types of plastics that the city is able to recycle. These are plastic #1 and #2. Plastics #3 through #7 are not accepted because they are hard to recycle and the center does not make very much money off of them. Lids on bottled water and other containers are also non-recyclable here. Paper that is dark colored is also non-recyclable. Phyllis taught us that if you tear the paper and if the tear line is white the paper is recyclable. We decided that highlighting on those recycling tips for knowing what can and cannot be recycling would be great to put on the web site to better inform the public. Phyllis and our group decided that we would meet again next Thursday to discuss our plan of action and get the ball rolling with our project.

Before arriving at the Vermillion Recycling Center I was unsure about what to expect because I have never been there. As I walked in to the recycling center, my nose quickly became aware of the strong smell of a soiled litter box. I then saw a very large feline, the biggest I have ever seen, and put two and two together. The chairs that we sat on for our meeting were covered in cat hair which made me very anxious because I am allergic to cats, but I was not going to let it distract me from what I came there to do. Phyllis did mention to us that her two large cats, Thing One and Thing Two, were there to serve a purpose, which is to kill the numerous mice that run around the place. I am not quite sure I would be able to work in this building, but I am grateful for those that do. I felt uneasy about what we would actually be accomplishing at this meeting because I felt guilty for not knowing a whole lot about recycling and I did not want to offend Phyllis, but she calmed my fears and was a great teacher. She stressed greatly how the public needs to be informed about what can and cannot be recycled because the recycling center is constantly getting phone calls about it. I asked for a pamphlet, which I am thankful for, in hopes that it would give us a basis to build the web site off of and I think it will help us a lot. I am now looking forward to working with Phyllis and helping out the recycling center. I feel like they have a lot of needs and I am willing to help them with my best efforts. I think our final product will be very rewarding and I will learn a lot from this experience.

From what we have talked about in class I have been nervous up to this point because I was unsure about how we were actually going to help the recycling center, but things are starting to make sense to me now. I definitely do see the importance of volunteering after visiting the recycling center and talking with Phyllis. The recycling center has many unmet needs and wants to promote their brand and make the public aware, but they need some help in doing so. As “volunteers” we are able to help the recycling center and come up with new ideas in hopes to get some positive feedback from the public. We want to make the public more aware of the positive effects of recycling and how they can participate.