U California Berkeley Students Conduct Waste Audit
Striving to meet the University of California system's zero waste commitment by 2020, the recent student audit revealed a multitude of plastics in the waste stream. This new data will be helpful to the university's recent commitment to Plastics Disclosure Project, which tracks the lifecycle of plastics used on campus and pledges to reduce plastic waste.
Harvard U Students Jumpstart Bottled Water Ban
Student members of the university's Environmental Action Committee recently kicked off the Beyond the Bottle campaign with student signatures leading up to a ballot referendum to ban the sale of disposables.
U California Santa Cruz Holds Zero Waste Education Event
In a collaborative effort to divert material from landfills, the 2013 Fall Festival, which hosts a high number of new students, seeks to educate each other about the university's commitment to zero waste by 2020. The 2013 Fall Festival event diverted 88 percent of its waste from the landfill.
U California Santa Cruz Introduces Impact Award
(U.S.) The university's 2013 Chancellor's Sustainability Challenge inaugural Impact Award recognizes students who develop waste reduction/diversion projects, experience a deeper level of commitment, participate in existing programs, or raise awareness of the need to reduce waste. First place prize is $300.
British Columbia Institute of Tech Hosts Computer Reuse Program
In an effort to address the plethora of electronic waste inundating the landfills, the university will now be home to the West Coast branch of the World Computer Exchange, a service that will accept computers from members of campus or the community, refurbish the machines, and redistribute them to local and international communities in need.
Connecticut College Initiates Recycling Education Campaign
After recently observing trash and recyclables intermingling in bins across campus and to help end confusion about single-stream recycling, the Office of Sustainability started the Blue Campaign using billboards across campus to ask the question "What does blue mean to you?"
U California Santa Cruz Transitions to Bottle-Free
University Dining services announced recently that all Perk Coffee Bars no long sell single-use water bottles. All buildings where the coffee bars exist were outfitted with hydration stations that allow members to fill their own reusable bottles.
Clarkson U Students Conduct Waste Audit
As part of a fall class project, students separated the waste publicly in separate piles to understand the habits of the campus community. By way of this public display, passers-by were also educated about waste.
Eastfield College to Implement Sustainability Projects
The college's Green Team plans to install 16 water-bottle refilling stations in an effort to reduce waste from plastic bottles on campus; attach "smart heads" to sprinklers to conserve water; and create a new community garden project.
Queen's U to Place Recycling Stations
(U.S.): Sixty new bins, including organic waste bins, will be distributed across campus in an effort to make sorting waste on campus more prevalent and accessible.
Auburn U Reduces Facilities Filter Waste
After a recent partnership with a large filter manufacturer, the university reduced the amount of filters from nearly 30,000 per year to 4,549 in fiscal year 2013 leading to conserved electricity and monetary savings.
U Wisconsin Green Bay Composts Pre-Consumer Food Scraps
Attempting to reduce the amount of organic material it sends to the landfill, the university now sends all pre-consumer food waste from its' dining halls 50 miles to the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh for composting.
Western Washington U Students Pilot Rentable Mug Program
In an effort to reduce waste and money spent on handling that waste, students from a Campus Sustainability Planning Studio class initiated Project MUG this fall using grant funding from the university's green fee. Project MUG enables students to rent a reusable mug for beverages.
Sullivan County CC Breaks Ground on New Compost Facility
Food waste from two food service areas and campus offices will be composted at the college's new open bay composting facility. An anonymous donation to the college affords four stipends of $500 for students to operate the facility during the fall of 2013 and spring of 2014.
U Georgia Introduces Solar-Powered Waste Compactors
The university is co-locating its outside trash and recycling receptacles by installing 30 BigBelly Solar compactors across campus to make it easier to recycle. The recycling bins are set up for single-stream recycling.
U Maryland Initiates Post-Consumer Waste Audit
In an effort to focus their outreach efforts, facilitators of the ongoing audit aim to reduce the amount of trash bags used and increase the amount of composted and recycled material.
Alfred State College Introduces Waste Reduction Initiatives
In an effort to continue to reduce waste on campus, the college now works with compostable packaging and service items in its new Ever Green coffeehouse. Also, The Terrace, the college's main all-you-can-eat dining venue, now offers reusable takeout containers.
U California Irvine Receives Accolades from EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently acknowledged the university for its zero waste and food recovery efforts. The zero waste program diverts 83 percent of the campus’ total waste materials from landfills by recycling, reusing and composting. The university has increased its food waste diversion from 90 tons in 2010 to 500 tons in 2012, when it joined the EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge.
Wesleyan U Installs Solar-Powered Waste Compactors
The university recently installed four BigBelly Solar trash compactors to increase its recycling rate and reduce the number of collection bins necessary, which also decreases labor involved in collection of the materials.
Duke U Builds Cardboard Structure to Conceptualize Waste
Reusing boxes from the recent student move-in, Sustainable Duke, Duke Arts Festival, and Duke Sanitation and Recycling Services collaborated on Fort Duke to break the world record and enable students to visualize the move-in waste stream.
Emory U Partners for Textile Recycling
(U.S.): Reducing its waste load and carbon footprint, the university's new partnership with re:loom allows old uniforms to be remade into new products. In summer 2013, the university donated over 100 pounds of custodial uniforms and 300 pounds of athletic uniforms to the service.
St. Olaf College Students Open Thrift Shop
(U.S.): Attempting to connect the dots between what students purchase and what they discard, the newly opened thrift shop collects unwanted items from the end-of-year on-campus move out. Proceeds from the store support environmental projects on campus and local organizations.
U Arkansas Little Rock Installs Bottle Fill Station
In an effort fulfill the university Sustainability Committee’s mission to conserve resources and protect the environment, the Donaghey Student Center’s new water bottle filling stations help reduce the school’s waste stream. In the first two weeks over 400 bottles were filled.
Auburn U Begins Move-In Recycling Program
With the help of staff volunteers, the newly introduced recycling program Move-in Mania enables students living on campus to recycle cardboard, #1 & #2 plastic and aluminum and steel cans. Of the 77 tons of material collected, 15 tons were cardboard.
Franklin & Marshall College Implements Waste Reduction Measures
As part of its sustainability plan, the college has installed 22 water bottle filling stations, discontinued the sale of single-use water bottles at campus dining facilities, distributed 2,500 reusable bottles to all students, implemented single stream recycling, and deployed two solar trash compactors.
U Florida Athletic Stadium to Offer Composting
In line with its zero waste commitment, the university’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium will offer composting and recycling, whereas previously only waste and recycling were offered. Labeling and increased staffing will help to eliminate contamination of either waste stream.
Elmhurst College Hosts No Waste Lunch
Promoting green lifestyles to the incoming freshman class, the college’s no waste lunch efforts included compostable napkins, plates and silverware, and a team of volunteers to person the waste receptacles.
U Adelaide Feeds Community from Surplus Ingredients
(Australia): Partnering with OzHarvest Food Rescue, the Office of Sustainability recently fed more than 500 campus community and general public members with campus food that would have otherwise been thrown away.
Wesleyan U Admissions Goes Paperless
(U.S.): With this newly implemented paperless application system, applicants are able to submit all application materials and set up interviews online.
Western Illinois U Deploys Water Bottle Filling Stations
(U.S.): New this fall, the campus community can refill water bottles at six working stations, and by the end of the academic year, an additional 14 across campus. Since the installation of the initial stations, an estimated 77,200 16-ounce bottles have been diverted from the landfill.
Benedictine U Receives $46K for Food Composting
Made possible through a Food Scrap Composting Revitalization and Advancement Program grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the new composting project is expected to divert 105,000 pounds of waste per year. Managed by student workers, the food scrap diversion program will collect organic waste from the Lisle campus cafeteria.
Elmhurst College Receives $28K Composting Grant
Awarded by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s Food Scrap Composting Grant Program, the funding will allow the college to purchase a grinder that will help divert up to 900 gallons of compostable material and food scraps from the landfill per week.
U New Hampshire Student Turns Recycling Prgm into Nat'l Nonprofit
The launch of a new nonprofit, PLAN: The Post-Landfill Action Network, is a national expansion of the university's student-led Trash 2 Treasure program, which to date has salvaged more than 100 tons of usable materials, recycled over 2,000 electronics, and donated more than five tons of food and clothing to local shelters. Trash 2 Treasure co-founder and recent graduate Alex Fried founded PLAN to work with student groups, administrators and sustainability offices to reduce campus waste nationwide.
