Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 72.58
Liaison Tom Twist
Submission Date June 12, 2020
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Bates College
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Tom Twist
Sustainability Manager
Facilities
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution held at least one sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at students and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability? :
Yes

Has the institution held at least one sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at employees and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

Name of the campaign:
Recycling Awareness Campaign: Recyclemania, Waste Audit Labs, Trashion Show

A brief description of the campaign, including how students and/or employees were engaged:


Our on-going waste reduction campaign, which consists of competing nationwide in Recylemania, general outreach and education, four waste audits a year, standardization of waste signage, and our annual Trashion Show event, has been demonstratively successful in increasing our recycling and diversion rates. Our paid EcoRep students, in conjunction with our custodial and grounds staff have spearheaded all these events. An example of our sample waste audit data sheet is below.

We conducted a waste audit of our trash and recycling stream on our quad. It helped us both get data on our waste stream, as well as making public the enormous amount of trash that we generate. I think it was successful on both fronts, and a good way to subtly raise awareness. We reached out in other ways - media and events. Our annual trashion show has complemented our waste awareness campaign, as well as our No Waste November events, which concludes with the Trashion Show and a zero-waste dinner, where we see waste diversion rates in excess of 90%.


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

We were able to see a measurable increase in our recycling rates, an uptick of 6% campus-wide since 2014. Our total diversion rate is up 9%. Much of this is due to our dining hall. Our dining hall has now achieved an annual diversion rate of 83%, between increased recycling efforts, compost, and pig farming scraps.

These quantitative numbers are based on tipping fee weights.


The website URL where information about the campaign is available:
Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
Green Bikes

A brief description of the campaign, including how students and/or employees were engaged (2nd campaign):

We have recently switched to a new format for our bike share program, known as Green Bikes. It's more similar to a bike library, where students, staff, or faculty can check out a bike the way you would a book.


A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):

This initiative has been a good way to increase staff and student awareness of green bikes on campus, and make it easier for them to use the bikes. We have seen an increase in ridership of over 800% (!) over the last two years.


The website URL where information about the campaign is available (2nd campaign):
A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns, including measured positive impacts:
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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