Stanford University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

(1) RECYCLEMANIA http://sustainable.stanford.edu/be_cardinal_green_recyclemania Recyclemania is a national 8-week intercollegiate competition and benchmarking tool for higher education recycling programs. Each year during RecycleMania, Stanford reports recycling and trash tonnage and attempts to surpass other schools in categories such as total tons recycled, waste diversion rate, waste minimization, and per capita recycling. All members of the campus community are encouraged to participate and evaluate their own waste and recycling habits during this annual competition. (2) WATER WARS & ENERGY WARS http://ssu.stanford.edu/energyandwaterwars For three weeks during winter quarter, residents in Florence Moore, Stern, and Roble Halls will compete to reduce Stanford's collective water and energy footprint and beat out the competition as part of Campus Conservation Nationals. Since 2004, Stanford students have organized annual competitions to encourage energy and water conservation in their residence halls. The competitions' names have gone through multiple changes, but their conservation data has always been used to compare Stanford against more than 100 other colleges and universities participating in a national competition called Campus Conservation Nationals. In 2013, Stanford saved over 10,000 kWh and 12,000 gallons of water during the competition. (3) GIVE & GO http://www.stanford.edu/dept/rde/cgi-bin/drupal/housing/give-go http://ssu.stanford.edu/Give-and-Go In June 2013, over 2,000 Stanford students took a simple step toward helping the local community and the environment by donating useable, unwanted items to charity during the "Give and Go" move-out. The items were donated to local charities to benefit families in need. With more than 200 convenient donation sites made available across undergraduate and graduate housing, it was easy for students to take part in the campaign, ultimately diverting over 97,500 lbs (nearly 50 tons!) of materials that were collected by the Ecumenical Hunger Program, Goodwill, and InnVision Shelter Network. The cumulative donations accounted for at least 15% of the total waste generated during move out being diverted from the landfill, saving R&DE between $2,900-5,000 in landfill and hauling costs and over $10,000 estimated in extra labor, not to mention the benefits of not sending those materials to landfill. This will now be an annual student campaign. (4) OTHER CARDINAL GREEN CAMPAIGNS http://sustainable.stanford.edu/be_cardinal_green In addition to those listed above, there are other campus-wide Cardinal Green campaigns in which students are encouraged to participate, including a water conservation campaign launched in May 2014 to help the campus respond to California's drought.

(1) RECYCLEMANIA During Recyclemania, Stanford earns a competition ranking relative to both all competitors and peer institutions. In 2014, Stanford scored 6th out of 365 schools in the Gorilla category (total pounds recycled), and 20th out of 362 schools in the Per Capita category (pounds per person). Stanford was also ranked 1st among its peer institutions in the Per Capita category. Lastly, Stanford scored particularly well in the paper, cardboard, bottles & cans, and food waste categories, ranking 13th, 9th, 11th, and 16th respectively among all competing schools and ranking 1st among its peer institutions in each category. (2) WATER WARS / ENERGY WARS Since 2004, Stanford students have organized annual competitions to encourage energy and water conservation in their residence halls. The competitions' names have gone through multiple changes, but their conservation data has always been used to compare Stanford against more than 100 other colleges and universities participating in a national competition called Campus Conservation Nationals. In 2013, Stanford saved over 10,000 kWh and 12,000 gallons of water during the competition. (3) GIVE & GO In 2013, students ultimately diverted over 97,500 lbs (nearly 50 tons!) of materials that were collected by the Ecumenical Hunger Program, Goodwill, and InnVision Shelter Network. The cumulative donations accounted for at least 15% of the total waste generated during move out being diverted from the landfill, saving R&DE between $2,900-5,000 in landfill and hauling costs and over $10,000 estimated in extra labor, not to mention the environmental benefits of not sending those materials to landfill.

The annual Cardinal Green Buildings campaign is one excellent example of the many campus-wide Cardinal Green campaigns (http://sustainable.stanford.edu/be_cardinal_green) in which employees are encouraged to participate. Stanford operates and maintains hundreds of campus buildings. While advanced systems ensure these buildings operate efficiently, a critical tool in helping further reduce Stanford’s energy use is the collective action of campus building occupants. For years, Stanford’s building managers have helped the university realize significant energy savings through the success of programs like the annual Winter Closure and the Building Level Sustainability Program (BLSP). In partnership with Zone Management and Facilities & Energy Management, these efforts were joined under the Cardinal Green Buildings campaign in order to call attention to the great work building leads are doing and to further engage the campus community in sustainability.

The 2013 Cardinal Green Buildings campaign proved to be a success, with 31 buildings volunteering to participate in BLSP and a total of 172 buildings participating in Winter Closure energy curtailment. The resulting savings totaled nearly $250,000 in avoided energy costs - which represents 1.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity or 838 million metric tons of CO2 emissions avoided.

Please see the following website for more details on all engagement campaigns: http://sustainable.stanford.edu/be_cardinal_green