Florida Gulf Coast University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

“RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over a 10-week period, schools report recycling and trash data which are then ranked according to who collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate. With each week’s reports and rankings, participating schools watch how their results fluctuate against other schools and use this to rally their campus communities to reduce and recycle more.” RecycleMania is entirely student run being organized and managed by the Student Government’s Executive Cabinet Director of Environmental Initiatives with a host of student volunteers.

FGCU has participated in Recyclemania since 2010. Their final results by year are as follows: 2014-placed 31st out of 256 with a cumulative recycling rate of 47.608% 2013- placed 54th out of 274 with a cumulative recycling rate of 42.317% 2012-placed 104th out of 275 with a cumulative recycling rate of 33.1% 2011-placed 76th out of 288 with a cumulative recycling rate of 36.3198% 2010-placed 64th out of 264 with a cumulative recycling rate of 34.45%.

The county switched from multiple stream to single stream recycling. Student volunteers stood at the entrance of campus during busy morning waving banners with All Together Now! Campus-wide messages were sent out, monthly staff trainings were conducted, weekly cross campus meetings were held to address common concerns and obtain feedback, speakers presented the information to environmental professors to share in their classes, 3-D YES and NO boards were created by student volunteers, tabling events were staffed by student volunteers to educate staff and students. New signage was created, multiple sets of recycle and waste bins were placed in every building on every floor across campus.

The overwhelmingly positive response to the simplified recycling requirements lead to increased compliance. The municipal waste removal contractor was pressed to accommodate our larger quantity of recyclable materials. FGCU is the only entity in Lee County that has 30-yard dumpsters retrofit to take commingled recycling. FGCU now has an exterior footprint of 55% recycling capacity to 45% waste capacity. Since this is the first year of single stream activity, we will use the results from RecycleMania 2014 as our baseline to measure the success of the All Together Now! campaign. Preliminary feedback from across campus has been enthusiastically supportive and awareness is certainly much higher as to the importance of reuse of materials, recycling what can be and reduction of overall waste.

TREE CAMPUS USA Tree Campus USA held a Campus Beautification Day in conjunction with the Staff Advisory Counsel, staff was invited to come to campus on a Saturday to plant butterfly gardens. The area selected was within and around the Tree Orphanage, an area that trees are saved from construction projects, where they now provide a shaded area for staff and students to gather. 325 plants were planted by staff, faculty and student volunteers, students naturals provided information about the unique natural environment of southwest Florida, planting techniques and other opportunities to get out on campus nature trails. MOVE-OUT FGCU's Move-Out Campaign is another noteworthy outreach program that yields measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability. This campaign encourages students, "DON'T DUMP, DONATE!" The Office of Residence Life works to educate students during the Green Eagle Fair and by disseminating information through the RA's and in the Residence Halls bulletin boards throughout the year. The campaign culminates a few weeks before move-out when students are encouraged to bring the items they no longer need to nearby collection stations for donating. During the 2013-14 school year, 12,685 lbs of waste were diverted thanks to this campaign!