Zelaki Online: Expanding online participation in applied One Health research on plastic pollution

Our planet is drowning in plastic waste, impacting ecosystems and communities across the globe. While policy-level changes have the potential to mitigate impact in the long term, grassroots efforts can reimagine waste as a resource in ways that directly protect ecosystems and benefit communities. Our grassroots initiative—the Zelaki Project—pairs students across disciplines and cultures to develop small-scale recycling systems tailored and responsive to the human, cultural, economic, and institutional contexts in which they operate.

Now that our engineering team has constructed machinery capable of transforming discarded plastic into functional goods, we are recruiting an energetic cohort of 15 social science apprentices to collaborate directly with peer engineers, community partners, and faculty mentors. This is an immersive, hands-on experiential opportunity where students do not simply study environmental issues in theory—they actively build, test, and deploy real-world applied solutions alongside their peers to generate immediate, measurable community and conservation impact. Working in subteams coordinated by undergraduate student leads, apprentices will help guide the production of anthropologically informed recycled products that meet genuine community needs.

Students will be matched to subteams according to their interests across two applied tracks:

Local Arizona Track (Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve): Connected to the Zelaki Incubator for Plastic Solutions (ZIPS), students will focus on local circular economy models in Phoenix. Apprentices will conduct on-site visitor intercept surveys, focus groups, and gift-shop retail tracking at the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve to evaluate visitor willingness-to-pay and product preferences. Students will also support research alongside Preserve staff and Indigenous artist partners (such as the American Indian Artists Association at ASU) to ensure product designs are culturally respectful, grounded in community priorities, and aligned with tribal advisory guidance.

Global Conservation Track (Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia): Connected to Zelaki Online, students will explore plastic waste through a One Health framework connecting wildlife health, protected ecosystems, ecotourism, and community livelihoods. Apprentices will collaborate remotely with faculty and student researchers at Debark University in Ethiopia, helping organize survey tools, review regional literature, and analyze shared data on community needs and small-scale recycling feasibility in remote highland areas.