California State University, Sacramento
IN-3: Innovation 3

The Refillable Propane tank program is an innovative solution to a sustainability challenge and demonstrates sustainability leadership because it had not previously been implemented in a University Setting. Working with the California Product Stewardship Council, Sacramento State was the first college campus in the Nation to participate in the “Refuel Your fun Program”. The program allows students and the local community to purchase and exchange refillable propane tanks on campus. The program benefits both the University and local region and was not captured within any other section throughout the STARS report. Since the pilot program at Sacramento State 2 additional campuses have joined the program, including Stanford University and UC Santa Cruz. Sacramento State has been used as the university template for bringing the “Refuel Your Fun” program to schools across the nation. Beginning June 2016 this program will be implemented nationwide, using the Sac State model. Every year in North America, 40 million disposable one-pound propane cylinders are used, with over four million in California alone. Because of limited, expensive recycling options, the empty cylinders are often disposed of improperly in landfills, dumpsters, household trash, campsites, on the roadside or in recycling containers. By purchasing, refilling and/or exchanging your one-pound REFILLABLE propane cylinders. The new valves on the refillable one-pound cylinders work exactly the same except they can be refilled and reused hundreds of times for up to 12 years. For more information please see: http://refuelyourfun.org/the-problem-and-the-solution/