Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.97
Liaison Alex Davis
Submission Date July 29, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.0

Arizona State University
ER-2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 5.00 / 5.00 Betty Lombardo
Manager
University Sustainability Practices
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution hold a campaign that meets the criteria for this credit?:
Yes

The name of the campaign(s):
Move In Recycling, Ditch the Dumpster, No Impact Week

A brief description of the campaign(s):

Move In Recycling

Each August, almost 10,000 students move in to residence halls at the Tempe Campus. Arizona State University’s team from University Housing, Grounds Maintenance, Facilities Management, University Sustainability Practices, the Center for Student Sustainability Initiatives, and Green Team student volunteers assist them to properly recycle move in waste. Other co-mingled recyclables where collected as these materials are accepted by our recycling contractor.

Website: http://sustainability.asu.edu/practice/sustainability-in-action/all-campuses/56

Ditch the Dumpster

Similarly, the University sponsors a Ditch the Dumpster program for departing students in the spring. The major difference in the spring program is that students have usable items that can be donated to local charities. The University works with Swift Charities for Children to provide secure donation collection boxes at all four campuses. Donations from the Polytechnic campus are first offered to House of Refuge at that campus, with all remaining donations accepted by Swift. Used foam egg-crate mattress pads are donated to Flex Foam, a local carpet pad manufacturer. Nonperishable food items are donated to St. Mary’s Food Bank.

Website: http://moveout.asu.edu/

No Impact Week

Along with over 30,000 other college students, faculty and staff this semester, Arizona State University Tempe campus partnered with the No Impact Project to bring No Impact Week to the University. No Impact Week consisted of 7 days of low-impact living in 6 different sustainability challenge areas plus a day to reflect on the cumulative changes made: food, consumption, waste, energy, transportation, community involvement, and eco-Sabbath day. The No Impact Project worked with us to create an University-specific Addendum of sustainability resources and fun events. They also provided an in-depth manual to the week. The No Impact Project was conceived in 2009 by Colin Beavan (No Impact Man), following the success of his blog, book, and Sundance-selected film, which chronicle his experiment living a zero-waste lifestyle in New York City.


A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign(s):

Move In Recycling

Standing by dumpsters from dawn to well past sunset, these volunteers reduced landfill waste by over 50,000 pounds. Of particular note was the team’s ability to collect 100 cubic yards of Styrofoam™ and give it to a local firm that mixes it with concrete for construction. Other recyclables co-mingled when collected as these materials are accepted by our recycling contractor.

Ditch the Dumpster

This year, more than 55,000 pounds of materials were diverted from landfills.

No Impact Week

138 Students, faculty and staff at Arizona State University participated in No Impact Week. Student organizations held events each day, including:

Stuff Swap on Consumption Day during which students traded items instead of buying new (5 volunteers, 30 attendees)

Waste Audit on the library lawn (figures need to be take from CSSI) (15 volunteers, many onlookers)(100 total)

Sustainable Transportation Talk and Bike Ride and Picnic to Tempe Town Lake (10 people)

United Students Against Sweatshops Worker Tour, to educate about working conditions in factories (25 attendees)

300-Mile Food Challenge Cooking Demo in Engrained restaurant on campus (70 attendees)

United Students for Fair Trade Quiz-a-thon, trivia in exchange for fair trade chocolates and bananas (70 quiz participants)

Documentary screening of "Blue Gold" (20 participants)
Restoration of "A" Mountain (30 people)


The website URL for the campaign:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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