Four NMU students designed and launched a recycling survey included in recent Marquette utility bills. They are enrolled in the senior capstone course, human impact on the environment, taught by Susy Ziegler (Earth, Environmental and Geographical Sciences). The main goal of the project is to gather information on community recycling knowledge and habits and make recommendations for improvement.

“The assistant city manager approached me last spring to see whether the EEGS department would like to assist with a waste characterization study,” Ziegler said. “I offered the project to students in the course and four chose to work on it. Four other students are working on a similar waste characterization for NMU. The students developed a draft of the questions, which two of them then presented to the city's Sustainable Community Ad Hoc Committee.

Committee members and the assistant city manager provided suggestions for refining the questions before including the final version in the utility bills.”

Marquette residents have three options for responding: go online at http://bit.ly/1KD1SSZ; scan the QR code at the bottom of the paper survey to be directed to the Qualtrics site; or complete the paper survey and return it by mail or in person to City Hall with utility payments.

The students involved in drafting the survey of Marquette residents were: Zach Gearns, Cody Dolwick, Will Mulligan and Colten Moore.