Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.58
Liaison Derek Nichols
Submission Date Dec. 14, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University at Buffalo
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Erin Moscati
Environmental Educator
Office of Sustainability
"---" 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:
Recyclemania

A brief description of the campaign, including how students and/or employees were engaged:
RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over an 8-week period each spring, colleges across the United States and Canada report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week and are in turn ranked in various categories based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis, as well as which schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste and which schools generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling. With each week’s updated ranking, participating schools follow their performance against other colleges and use the results to rally their campus to reduce and recycle more. National recognition is provided to the winning school in each category on the RecycleMania website and in a national press release. Winning schools receive an award made out of recyclable materials, and win the right to host that category’s special traveling trophy for the coming year. Goals of RecycleMania: motivate students and staff to increase recycling efforts and reduce waste generation; generate attention and support for campus recycling programs; encourage colleges to measure and benchmark recycling activity in their effort to improve their programs over time; have a fair and friendly competition.

A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:
Throughout the 2018 RecycleMania competition UB collected and reported data on the amount of recycling, composting and garbage generated on our campuses. Our campaign was heavily promoted across campus by a number of different groups including UB Sustainability, Campus Dining and Shops, Student Life, and student groups. During RecycleMania, weekly competitions such as Caught Green Handed, our “I Recycle, Do You?” and “I Recycle Because” Facebook promotions had a tremendous impact on raising the profile of recycling across campus and encouraging people to recycle. Over the duration of the campaign we watched our recycling totals increase. We are proud to report that the impact of our 2018 RecycleMania efforts paid off, with an overall increase in the amount of material diverted from the landfill. The first week of the competition we generated 37,093 pounds of recycling and 11,430 pounds of compost, and at its close we generated 373,601 pounds of recycling and 151,001 pounds of compost. This was particularly satisfying due to the severity of the Winter weather during the campaign as students and staff diligently continued to participate.

The website URL where information about the campaign is available:
Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
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A brief description of the campaign, including how students and/or employees were engaged (2nd campaign):
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A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):
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The website URL where information about the campaign is available (2nd campaign):
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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:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.