U Wisconsin-Oshkosh Breaks Ground on $7M Biodigester Facility
Funded by the UW Oshkosh Foundation, the new biogas production facility at the state’s largest dairy farm will be able to generate 1.4 megawatts of electricity using livestock waste to generate, capture and combust methane. The biodigester will also be used by the university's environmental science, microbiology and sociology students as an off-campus laboratory.
York U Students Divert Nearly 27K Pounds of Waste from Landfill
The FreeStuff tables set up in each undergraduate residence during April and early May, where students were able to swap unwanted items, helped saved nearly 27,000 pounds of waste from the landfill this year. At the end of the move-out period, leftover items were donated to a local charity.
Carleton College Move Out Sale Raises $30K for Local Nonprofits
Community volunteers helped keep unwanted student items out of the landfills, sorting and organizing clothing, kitchen items, mini fridges, printers, bedding, books, and mirrors for the recent "Lighten Up" sale. After raising $30,000 for local nonprofits, the remaining items were donated to the Salvation Army or sent to electronics recycling.
Babson College Launches Pilot Food Waste Diversion Program
(U.S.): The joint initiative between Facilities Management, Sustainability Office and Sodexo Campus Services is expected to divert 1-2 tons per week of food waste produced by one campus dining hall from the landfill. Food waste will now be taken to local farms to be composted into soil. The college plans to expand the initiative to collect pre-consumer scraps from kitchen work stations and eventually collect post-consumer food waste.
Boston U 'Project Robinhood' Reduces Campus e-Waste
(U.S.): Since starting the initiative in March of 2013, IT staff Aaron Freed and Benny Soto have kept 20 computers from the landfill by refurbishing them for researchers in need. Freed and Soto haul the old computers back to their workstations with a "TRecycle," a three-wheeled vehicle built out of an old bicycle, scrap lumber and a wheel from a flea market.
Lehigh U Move Out Drive Raises $16K for Community Engagement
(U.S.): Volunteers recently helped keep items left behind by students from the the landfill by sorting and pricing them for sale. The funds raised from the initiative will support after-school homework clubs that pair university students with local schoolchildren.
Florida State U Saves 29K Pounds of Unwanted Items from Landfill
The Chuck it for Charity partnership between the university's Sustainable Campus and Housing & Residence Life includes weighing, sorting and redistributing unwanted items left behind during student move-outs to local community agencies. In the five years since its inception, the program has diverted more than 50 tons from the landfill.
Portland State U Conducts Waste Audit to Boost Diversion Efforts
With the goal of providing recommendations for improving waste diversion and reduction efforts on campus, university staff sorted through 690 pounds of campus garbage to find out what portion of materials could have been diverted from the landfill through recycling and composting, or avoided altogether by using durable goods. Recommendations to lower the percentage of materials that could have been composted (35 percent) and recycled (13 percent) include increased collection and education, enhanced recycling infrastructure and signage, and replacing restroom paper towels with efficient air hand driers.
UC Santa Cruz, City Partner to Reduce Move Out Waste
The university and the City of Santa Cruz are working with local charity organizations to provide free pick-up of bulky Items, clothing, e-waste, books and furniture from off-campus student residences as they move out for the summer. The first 100 student houses to sign up receive free pizza coupons.
U Oregon, Local Schools Team Up to Reduce Move Out Waste
Area high school students received an hourly credit to "buy" any items they were interested in for helping collect and remove the items left behind as University of Oregon students recently moved out of residence halls. Items not "bought" by the high school students were donated to the Springfield Public Schools Family Resource Centers.
Hartwick College Increases Recycling Efforts
Student leaders, staff, faculty and administrators are collaborating to raise awareness and improve recycling rates on campus with projects including the installation of clear, consistent recycling labeling; the addition of new recycling bins throughout campus; and Zero-Sort Recycling program outreach.
U California Santa Cruz Dorms Go Paper Towel-Free
In support of zero waste goals for 2020, paper towels will no longer be provided for drying hands in shared residential restrooms on campus. Thirty-four percent of the waste coming out of the residence halls is paper towels. Students will be asked to bring a supply of reusable cloth hand towels to school with them in the fall.
Vassar College Students Keep Unwanted Items from Landfill
Hundreds of pounds of clothing, appliances and other household items left behind as students recently moved out of the dorms were collected, sorted and donated to local nonprofit agencies by the college's SWAPR (Students With a Purpose Recycling) team. Before SWAPR started 13 years ago, the college would deploy 20 extra dumpsters outside the dorms to handle the flood of discarded material at the end of every school year. This year, says a Vassar College Committee on Sustainability intern, they only needed three to four.
Towson U 'Trash-to-Treasure' Event Raises $3K for Sustainability
Staff, faculty, and community members bought items left behind during the student move-out at bargain prices, raising $3,007 for campus sustainability initiatives in areas including environmental education, recycling and renewable energy. Items left after the sale were donated to local charities and electronics were recycled through National Reclamation.
Denison U 'Operation Move Out' Donates Unwanted Student Items
As students recently moved out of the dorms, several local agencies like Big Brothers/Big Sisters and New Beginnings Shelter and Services were invited to the residence halls to look for donated usable items like couches, TVs, coffee makers and refrigerators.
North Carolina State U Recycling Site Diverts 93% Waste
Ninety-three percent of the campus yard waste, scrap metal, wooden pallets, used tires, discarded electronics and more at the university's Dearstyne Roll-off Convenience Site are reused or recycled. The site is part of the university’s goal is to increase the overall diversion rate of campus waste from landfills to 65 percent from the current 50 percent. **
Western Carolina U Adds 75 Recycling Bins to Campus
One of 35 colleges and universities to receive a donation of recycling bins as part of the Alcoa Foundation Recycling Bin Grant Program, the university will now be able to expand its recycling program to athletic facilities, where students reported a need.
U Illinois Chicago Expands Recycling Efforts
(U.S.) The university will install 60 recycling bins around campus and in residence halls. The bins were made possible by a grant from the Alcoa Foundation, in partnership with Keep America Beautiful.
Bowdoin College Athletes Implement Shoe Reuse Program
Bowdoin Green Athletes (BGA) looks to continue its campaign to ingrain sustainability into the athletic culture through a team-by-team strategy and a shoe reuse initiative. As part of the Rerun Shoes initiative, BGA has installed two boxes for students to donate their old, unwanted sneakers. About 200 pounds of shoes have been collected so far.
San Francisco State U Students Monitor Recycling Bins
The Cesar Chavez Student Center has launched a new program that aims to educate students on waste diversion. Ten student volunteers will monitor recycling bins to ensure items are discarded properly. The university’s goal is to reach 100 percent waste diversion by 2020.
U Minnesota Launches Virtual Warehouse
The university has launched a new online exchange to facilitate reuse and waste reduction. Similar to Craigslist or Freecycle, the virtual warehouse allows users to exchange university property without visiting the ReUse warehouse or moving items to a building's dock for pickup.
Ohio U Project Creates Visual Representation of Recycled Plastic
The university’s Campus Recycling has created a visual representation of how quickly recyclable materials can accumulate over the course of one month. The 16-foot high campus sculpture, entitled “It All Adds Up,” is comprised of four weeks’ worth of recycled #1 and #2 plastics collected on campus. The project was created to coincide with the university's RecycleMania efforts.
Dundee U Launches Recycle and Reward Initiative
(U.K.): The university has installed four reverse vending machines that accept bottles and cans as part of the Recycle and Reward initiative. Students and staff will be rewarded for recycling through a variety of incentives including cash, discount vouchers or vouchers for donations to charities.
East Tennessee State U to Receive Recycling Bins
(U.S.): Alcoa Foundation ha partnered with Keep America Beautiful (KAB) and the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC) to provide 60 recycling bins to the university as part of the Recycling Bin Grant Program.
U Chicago Launches Paperless Payroll
(U.S.): In an effort to reduce paper consumption, Financial Services has implemented a paperless payroll system. This digitization effort increases security and transparency while also reducing the costs of printing, shipping, archiving, and shredding.
U South Carolina Installs Solar Trash Compactors
(U.S.): The facilities department has installed eight BigBelly Solar trash compactors and Smart Belly recycling units at the Russell House University Union. The new compactors replaced 40 trashcans and will serve as a pilot program. The trashcans will be repurposed to offer more recycling cans in other areas of the campus.
Spelman College to Receive 75 Recycling Bins
The college will receive 75 recycling bins as part of the Alcoa Foundation Recycling Bin Grant Program. The program is an effort to help schools boost their recycling results during the eight-week RecycleMania Tournament, and expand their recycling efforts throughout the year.
U Minnesota Morris Launches On-Site Composting
The university has launched an organic waste disposal program as part of its campus-wide sustainability efforts. The initiative was led by a group of students to help avoid a waste hauling fee and create a valuable resource for use in landscaping projects. In the past, all compostable materials were sent off-campus to be incinerated.
Appalachian State U Begins Zero Waste Commitment
The university has launched a zero waste commitment with the goal of diverting 90 percent of all waste from landfill disposal by 2022. As part of this commitment, single stream recycling and mini-bin waste collection initiatives will be implemented. The initiative will also include institutional purchasing decisions that focus on reducing consumption and increasing recycling.
Colorado State U Conducts Waste Audit
Students, faculty and staff have conducted an audit of trash gathered from the university’s dorms and dining halls as part of RecycleMania. Volunteers separated items to recycle, compost or discard. Results from the same audit conducted last year found that 26 percent of what was tossed could have been recycled, 36 percent could have been composted and only 38 percent was true trash.
Georgia Tech Housing to Streamline Recycling
The Department of Housing will implement a new single stream recycling system to replace the multi-stream process that is currently in use. Student recycling is expected to increase by 20 percent by the end of the semester.
Knox College Theatre Students Promote Sustainability
Theatre students have raised an emphasis on reducing waste and promoting sustainability for its latest stage production. All items were reused from past shows, purchased from second hand/vintage shops, or created with the intention of being used again. The students also created a Sustainability Crew which included initiatives like sewing tote bags from old t-shirts, posting student videos promoting sustainability on YouTube, and encouraging others to be more sustainable in their everyday lives.
U Maryland Greek Community Launches Composting Initiative
Eleven Greek fraternities and sororities on campus have launched composting initiatives since 2010. Compost collected from each participating house is taken to a compactor at one of the dining halls. The university has seen a significant increase in composting across the campus since the initiatives launched. In 2012, the university composted 566.18 tons, up from 138 tons in 2010.
U Maryland to Install Bottle Refilling Stations
Facilities Management has announced it will replace water fountains on campus with filling stations as part of the Sustainability Council’s Terps Love the Tap project. The new fountains will include a traditional water fountain head, a filtered filling station for reusable bottles and “green counters” that track how many plastic bottles have been saved over the course of the fountain’s use.
Harvard U Launches System to Reuse Interoffice Envelopes
In an effort to reduce costs and promote reuse, the university’s School of Public Health Eco-Opportunity team members have launched a new reuse system for interoffice envelopes. A pop-up notification on the website page for new interoffice envelopes now directs purchasers to the appropriate contacts for receiving surplus envelopes at no cost.
College of Wooster Bans Bottled Water
(U.S.): The college has announced it will no longer sell bottled water at locations on campus where students can make purchases using their “Flex” plan. The ban is a result of a grassroots initiative led by the environmental group Greenhouse, which began its campaign three years ago. There are 25 filtered water refill stations across campus, and the college plans to install seven more in the coming weeks.
Yale U Launches Surplus Exchange Website
(U.S.): The Yale Administration office has launched a new website, Eli Surplus Exchange, that allows for all university offices and laboratories to purchase, sell, or exchange furniture, equipment, or other items. The website aims to help departments make better use of their surplus equipment and save money when procuring new supplies, while also supporting sustainability goals of recycling and reuse.
SUNY Cortland Introduces Single Stream Recycling
The university has launched a single-stream system in an effort to increase recycling rates and save money. A cost reduction of about $2,000 per year will result from the reduced carbon footprint of having fewer trucks needed to collect waste and recycling.
Baylor U to Expand Water Refilling Station Pilot Program
The university has announced plans to install more water bottle filling stations across campus following the launch of a successful pilot program last summer. Two water bottle filling stations were installed that have since been used a combined 22,000 times in place of disposable water bottles.
Duke U Releases Higher Ed Recycling Survey Results
The university recently released results from a summer 2012 higher education recycling survey. The survey evaluated solid waste and recycling reporting methods and efficiency of recycling collection programs on campus. A feasibility study of single-stream recycling for the university was also initiated.
Minnesota State U Debuts Student Recycling Program
The Office of Campus Sustainability has launched a student-run recycling program. Each student will be assigned to a different building and will be responsible for collecting the recycling in that building each week. The students will receive a weekly stipend of $15 and have the opportunity to earn prizes, including an end-of-semester trip.
