Interview with Poly Project Team from Enactus uOttawa

by OCV Environment Club members Victoria Rossatti & Kaia Thomas

During our last OCV Environment Club meeting, we hosted guest speakers from an entrepreneurial club at the University of Ottawa called Enactus uOttawa, a student-led non-profit organization that uses the power of entrepreneurship action to empower people to improve their livelihoods.

Our guests were from one of the projects in Enactus called Poly. Poly’s mission is to empower small businesses and educational institutions to be able to recycle plastic products on their own by purchasing a small scale plastic shredder and moulder (which Poly invented!), and also to educate about environmental sustainability through outreach presentations to schools.

We interviewed Isabel Szollosy, Poly’s Head of Sustainability Education, Carter Barett, President of Enactus uOttawa and Paloma Hernandez, a student at uOttawa from Guadalajara, Mexico and Poly’s Education Coordinator. Here's our interview:

What’s your mission with Poly?

Paloma: The education program’s mission is to teach kids of all ages why it is important to take care of the environment and what they can do.

Carter: Poly, enables local, community-led plastic recycling by manufacturing systems that allow individuals to recycle plastic without the need for expensive municipal infrastructure. Our Poly Sustainability Education Program aims to educate youth and raise awareness on key environmental topics.

What’s it like being part of Poly? (what they do every day, the work environment, etc.)

Paloma: It is a good cause-It is so nice to work with those who care about the environment. Everyone cares, and we all help each other.

Isabel: Being a part of the Poly team gives Enactus members the opportunity to learn how protecting our environment and leading entrepreneurial projects can truly go hand in hand to make a meaningful impact in our community. We get to work in the Poly workshop with the machines, collaborate with educators in Quebec and Ontario to develop our workshops, meet with the rest of our team to build strategic plans and brainstorm our future initiatives.

What have you accomplished through Poly?

Paloma: Workshop with kids, learning, working in a big team.

Carter: In the last three years we’ve delivered sustainability workshops to over 4000 students, employed 14 at-risk individuals to help us operate our Poly system, finalized our small-scale recycling technology, brought plastic recycling to an operator in Saint John, New Brunswick, and diverted over 5000 lbs of plastic waste.

What are you currently working on?

Paloma: Working with schools, Making videos of our workshops so they can be presented by teachers independently.

Isabel: this summer our team translated our workshops to French, peer-edited with a team of educators and adapted our material to be accessible for students learning from home. We are now delivering our workshops to English and French schools in Ontario.

Carter: Our business & marketing team is currently working on bringing Poly systems to 5 more operators across North America by this time next year.

What are you studying in university?

Paloma: Studying finance, originally wanted to be a finance officer in Poly, but realized that being an education coordinator for Poly seems to be more interesting.

Carter: Studying Business Technology, the merge between IT and Business! Currently in my 4th year at Enactus, where I have gained a lot of hands-on skills and knowledge that will help me kickstart my career.

Why did you join Poly?

Paloma: I wanted to be part of something bigger, do something for others, and meet more people.

What have you learned by being a part of Poly?

Paloma: It takes a lot of work: we learn a lot of new information about the environment and what we need to do. I love teamwork and communicating with each other.

Carter: It’s kind of cheesy, but I’ve learned that you can accomplish a lot more than you think you can when you apply yourself and work towards what you’re passionate about.

What kind of things did you do before Poly to help the environment if you did?

Paloma: I have reduced my consumption of plastic, I use less water that I don’t need to use, walk if the place is close.

Carter: Educate those around me about sustainability and proper recycling, reduce plastic consumption in my own life, be conscious of the impact of my actions.

What would you tell someone who wants to make a difference? (could be in community, country, world, etc.)

Paloma: Changes don't have to be big; do something in daily life even if it’s small and you think it's useless; it's not useless; small changes: do something we’re capable of; join clubs and start taking actions.

Carter: What Paloma said! Every little action makes an impact. Also, if you decide to go to University at uOttawa, checkout the Enactus team - it’s a great way to get involved on campus making an impact.