Dana Theoc is a fourth year psychology major and an intern at UGA’s Office of Sustainability who specializes in circularity and zero waste. The Office of Sustainability takes part in two key programs for zero waste, Swap Shop and the Water Bottle Reclamation Program.

Q: How do you define zero waste?

A: I can give two answers. So let's say you're running an institution or running an event. They would define that as 90% of the materials coming from that event being diverted from the landfill. Whether that be they're going to be recycled, or they're going to be composted or reused. But more broadly, we see zero waste as just a movement towards producing less waste. 

Q: What is your primary role in the Office of Sustainability? What does your role entail?

A: Running two zero waste programs on campus that focus on keeping items in use for as long as possible. The first is Swap Shop, and that's a free thrift store on campus located in the MLC [Miller Learning Center]. There are students who, let's say, are not using a T-shirt anymore. Instead of throwing it away, they can bring it to us. That's a really cool way for students to start thinking about secondhand shopping, and it makes it a lot more accessible. 

The second main thing I do is run the Water Bottle Reclamation initiative, and that is a program where we partner with about 10 buildings on campus to receive all of their lost and found reusable water bottles.We collect them, and recondition them, then redistribute them to community members who might need them. 

Q: Are there any challenges that come with running programs like these?

A: I would think the main thing is, like, getting student involvement or getting the word out because there's just so much always going on at UGA.

Q: Do you work with any local businesses around Athens?

A: Not to my knowledge, maybe in other interns' work, but in terms of zero waste stuff, we are trying to focus more on our campus. But when we essentially phased out green recycling bin lids to focus on blue lids, 1000 bins that were green that we were not using anymore, we donated to ACC education system to then go into schools in Clark County. 

Q: Is community involvement something that is important at the Office of Sustainability?

A: For sure, and there are so many internships that focus on that. Items that Swap Shop don't deem as, like, suitable for students, we give those to Project Safe, which is an Athens-based thrift store that supports women who have experienced domestic violence.

UGA is a part of the Athens community, so it's important that we give back.

Comments trimmed for length and clarity.