Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 61.13
Liaison Elizabeth Drake
Submission Date March 6, 2020

STARS v2.2

Swarthmore College
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete N/A Melissa Tier
Sustainability Program Manager
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name of the institution’s featured sustainability program, initiative, or accomplishment:
Campus-Wide, Post-Consumer Compost System

A brief description of the institution’s featured program, initiative, or accomplishment:

Swarthmore now offers post-consumer compost bins in every building hallway throughout campus. All locations have been installed with "waste stations", which include a compost, recycling, and trash bin along with accompanying instructive signage. The student Green Advisors work shifts to hand sort contamination out of the compost stream every day of the week, year-round. Each year, the College also host a Waste Characterization Study to collect data on each waste stream and typical sorting behaviors.


Which of the following impact areas does the featured program, initiative, or accomplishment most closely relate to?:
Campus Engagement
Food & Dining
Waste

Website URL where more information about the accomplishment may be found:
STARS credit in which the featured program, initiative, or accomplishment is reported (if applicable):
OP-18

A photograph or document associated with the featured program, initiative, or accomplishment:
Name of a second highlighted sustainability program/initiative/accomplishment:
Green Advisors / Sustainability Advocates

A brief description of the second program/initiative/accomplishment:

Swarthmore's Office of Sustainability innovatively matches student and staff Eco-Reps in a 1:1 relationship. Among other roles, the student Green Advisors are tasked with supporting zero waste and energy reduction projects in their staff Sustainability Advocate's department. Sustainability Advocates are volunteers; Green Advisors are paid student interns who also host activities in the residence halls, manage the campus-wide compost sytems, and more.


Which impact areas does the second program/initiative/accomplishment most closely relate to?:
Research
Campus Engagement
Public Engagement
Coordination & Planning

Website URL where more information about the second program/initiative/accomplishment may be found:
STARS credit in which the second program/initiative/accomplishment is reported (if applicable):
EN-7

A photograph or document associated with the second program/initiative/accomplishment:
Name of a third highlighted program/initiative/accomplishment:
Roadmap to Zero

A brief description of the third program/initiative/accomplishment:

Swarthmore is progressing meaningfully toward carbon neutrality by 2035. In August 2018, Swarthmore convened a working group, including representatives from Facilities, Sustainability, ITS, and Finance, to develop the Roadmap to Zero, building off of previous energy and infrastructure studies. Once a new central plant and geoexchange field are constructed, 100% of the campus cooling needs and 75% of campus heating needs will be supplied without onsite combustion of fossil fuels. After completion of building system upgrades, 100% of both cooling and heating needs will be met without onsite combustion. This conversion of heating and cooling, combined with renewable electricity procurement, will cut the Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions of Swarthmore’s campus by 98%.


Which impact areas does the third program/initiative/accomplishment most closely relate to?:
Energy
Coordination & Planning

Website URL where more information about the third program/initiative/accomplishment may be found:
STARS credit in which the third program/initiative/accomplishment is reported (if applicable):
OP-6

A photograph or document associated with the third program/initiative/accomplishment:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

This data was assembled by representatives of the Office of Sustainability.


This data was assembled by representatives of the Office of Sustainability.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.