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When on the tennis team in high school, Sarah Bellaire noticed a symbol on the back of her Sun Chips. Curious, she decided to do a little research.

“Our team usually had chips for snacks, so we always had a lot of bags. When I learned about Terracycle and how they turn trash like chip bags into clipboards and pencil cases, I wanted to get involved,” said Bellaire, who collected nearly 400 chip bags from her team and the hometown Subway restaurant.

“I felt it was important to take items that were normally thrown into the trash and give them a practical use instead of having them rot in a landfill,” she said.

And Bellaire, an environmental science major who graduated Sunday, continues to look for ways to reduce waste and educate others to make the world a more environmentally friendly place.

Bellaire said she came to campus knowing she wanted to work to make the planet a greener place—but wasn’t sure exactly where to start.

“I’m interested in both policy and the science, but I ultimately decided to pursue a degree in environmental science because I felt it would be beneficial to understand the science behind many environmental issues, and later, hopefully, translate that knowledge into policy or community outreach,” she said.

While on campus, in addition to taking classes, Bellaire continued to share her passion for environmental causes with others.

She started the student group ECO with fellow environmental science major Jen Zavalnitskaya. Bellaire’s the person behind the “This Trash Goes to a Landfill” stickers on the campus waste receptacles. She did her senior research project on composting education. She’s worked with faculty on major urban environmental projects. And even after graduation, Bellaire will be on campus to meet with the faculty and staff to start a Sustainability Committee

“At first, I wondered why there wasn’t an environmental student group. Then I had a, ‘Wait, why can’t I do it? Why can’t I be that change?’ moment,” she said. “It was an important realization, that you can effect the change you wish to see.”

And for her senior research project, Bellaire wanted to study the campus’ reaction to a composting program.

“I found that 35-percent of each trash bag in the University Center is food waste,” she said. “The initial response to compost bins were limited, but my study showed that with an educational campaign, compost bin usage went up, with some trash bins showing almost 100-percent reduction of food waste.”

Seeing how research and education makes a difference for environmental learning, she’s ready to go out and make her impact—using the passions she’s always had and some new tools and experiences given to her from her time on campus.

She’s accepted a soil analyst position at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. She starts in August. In addition to that job, Bellaire also had offers from the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“I was very happy to have great organizations to choose from for my first job after college,” she said. “I‘m grateful for my professors, who have helped me develop the skill set I need and for all the lessons, opportunities and advice they have given me.”