{"id":3543,"date":"2016-05-27T13:08:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T12:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=53795"},"modified":"2026-01-20T10:01:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T09:01:15","slug":"flowers-talk-sustainability-to-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/05\/27\/flowers-talk-sustainability-to-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Flowers talk sustainability to students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The flowers were planted in recycled bottles with a note next to them<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

A group of four Erasmus University students has transformed Woudestein campus in a treasure hunt ground. Little plants and flowers potted in recycled plastic bottles functioned as clues while fruity popsicles were the prizes. The quartet is competing in the \u2018Rotterdam 100\u2019, a business competition organized by the Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, where students pitch original business solutions to the partner companies.<\/p>\n

Popsicles for sustainable behavior<\/h3>
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One of the many flowers potted in a plastic bottle <\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

On Thursday morning, sixty unconventional pots of flowers were spread around on EUR grounds by Paul Grandjouan, student of Business Information Management at RSM, and his group mates to trigger passerby\u2019s curiosity. Stopping to give the pot a closer look, one could find a little letter containing a message. The message encouraged the person to take the pot back to the group\u2019s stand in exchange of a prize and some more information. The group of students, randomly put together for the business competition, had set up a small stand next to the pond to give visitors a micro lecture about sustainability and recycling. During the morning hours, thirty people stopped by to bring the pots back.<\/p>\n

Encouraging sustainable choices <\/h3>
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From left to right: Paul Grandjouan, Laura Oskam, Roberta Baccanti and Erik Filter <\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Laura Oskam, a third year Psychology student, is sitting behind the stand: \u201cWe are participating in the Rotterdam 100 case competition. We all signed up for the competition, then for this specific project, consequently we were randomly put together as we all indicated this project as our preference. \u00a0We are competing against four other teams in this last phase. In two weeks the grand final will take place, then we will present our project. \u201d The group is working on a project about people\u2019s sustainable behaviors for a company which purveys clean technologies, in particular how to encourage consumers to buy sustainable alternatives.<\/p>\n

Paul explains that the idea of today\u2019s initiative is to raise awareness among students. The flowers are just a means to attract the passersby\u2019 attention and at the same time showing that plastic bottles can have a new life. \u201cBy doing this action today we are trying to raise awareness for sustainable actions on a local level. People bring back the flowers and then we can tell them about why we positioned them and make them aware of the issue that is sustainability.\u201d Whoever brought the flower and the small message back received a popsicle and had the chance to take one of the small plants home.<\/p>\n

read more about sustainability on the campus<\/h2>