Overall Rating Platinum
Overall Score 85.72
Liaison Kira Stoll
Submission Date March 4, 2021

STARS v2.2

University of California, Berkeley
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.17 / 3.00 Mikayla Tran
SDG & OS Engagement Fellow
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of employees:
16,106

Total number of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
16,106

Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
100

Name of the employee educators program (1st program):
Zero Waste Building Program

A brief description of the employee educators program (1st program):

UC Berkeley has a consistent zero waste infrastructural bin system and educational training program provided building by building, which includes detailed coordination with building stakeholders to ensure proper placement of systems/signing and training building occupants on zero waste best practices. These sessions are offered during pre-planned workshops or scheduled staff meetings and encourage employees to be zero waste ambassadors among their respective departments and to other employees. The Zero Waste Building Program ensures that our campus buildings are set-up with a standardized system of landfill, recycling and compost bins. This system will make it easier for us to collectively recycle and compost more, while we simultaneously work to reduce our waste.

The training workshop includes how to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost on the UC Berkeley campus, as well as how to lower the department/building's waste footprint through purchasing decisions. During the training, specific instruction on how to use the campus specific bin systems and particular details of the building systems is provided. Training sessions also show general operational staff how to service and handle waste streams to support building employee ambassadors. Cal Zero Waste hosts Zero Waste Town Halls to go over program details, expected timelines, as well as answer questions that the campus community may have.

The intent of the training workshops is to educate building employee occupants on what the best practices are to reach zero waste; then to have these employees take the information and continue to educate others in the building. By the end of calendar year 2019, the Zero Waste Building Program has been rolled out to about 66% of state funded buildings. As such, over half of campus employees intended by this program are now being served by it. Cal Zero Waste services staff regularly follow up and update the zero waste education items with building occupants. Cal Zero Waste is unique in its peer-to-peer outreach and education, as the program has full-time zero waste specialists engaging with other full-time staff on zero waste initiatives.


A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (1st program):

The target audience is all faculty and staff and student employees working and occupying campus buildings.


Number of trained employee educators (1st program):
4

Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (1st program):
48

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (1st program):
10.42

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (1st program):
2,000

Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (1st program) :
Name of the employee educators program (2nd program):
UC Berkeley Sustainability Community of Practice

A brief description of the employee educators program (2nd program):

The Office of Sustainability and campus partners have re-established the Sustainability Community of Practice (CoP) for campus staff focused on environmental interests, peer to peer education, and action on campus priorities. “Communities of Practice are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” (Wenger, McDermontt, Snyder).

Through this social, voluntary-based network in the CoP, people as a group create continuous learning experiences for members with a specific goal of engaging and educating the broad staff community. We envision The CoP will include monthly lunchtime gatherings, covering different topical areas, with a focus on a sustainable future. CoP members will set and complete a number of outreach activities each year to other staff in campus departments and other staff organizations.

Additional components include:
- Training on how to spread the sustainable practices to your workplace / academic department / classroom / student group. CoP members gain the foundations for this through on-line campus sustainability training and certification programs.
- Hands-on activities such as weeding parties to support the organic landscaping program and waste audits to track progress in landfill diversion.
- New employee outreach events.


A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (2nd program):

Campus staff and new employees


Number of trained employee educators (2nd program):
27

Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (2nd program):
48

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (2nd program):
2

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (2nd program):
2,280

Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (2nd program):
A brief description of all other employee peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:

Green Department Certification

Since 2008, the Office of Sustainability has offered the Green Department Certification. The certification recognizes campus departments that have taken extra steps to be more sustainable. The program identifies a set of conditions and actions - some optional and some required - that can be followed to be certified. The certification process is designed to provide resources, guidance and recognition on steps to decrease the environmental impacts at work.

Green department certification targets all employees within the certified department. The peer to peer educators in their department are responsible for motivating others and for demonstrating the ways in which the unit has become more environmentally sustainable. The certification program requires a leadership green team. The green team members are volunteers and are responsible become the departmental employee peer to peer educators for others in their department. Green teams at minimum require two people to take on this educator and motivator roll.

The campus also offers Green Labs Certification and Healthy Department Certification that reaches additional staff in sustainability related change.

https://sustainability.berkeley.edu/engage/green-certifications

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Housing & Dining Sustainability Advocates (HADSA)

Twice a year, Cal Dining employees receive a sustainability update training on emerging sustainability themes in the food industry from peers. Weekly, in pre- shift meetings, managers share a sustainability update with staff provided by the sustainability coordinator. In addition, a student waste auditor provides weekly training about how to sort waste in the kitchens.

https://rsspsustainability.berkeley.edu/
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Wellness Ambassadors

UC Berkley Wellness Ambassadors are staff or faculty volunteers who play a vital role in supporting Be Well at Work – Wellness Program by promoting health and wellness programs to your co-workers, department, or friends on campus. Any UC Berkley faculty or staff can volunteer to be a Wellness Ambassador. Wellness Ambassadors serve as key communicators of UC Berkeley wellness programs, activities, and resources for faculty and staff supporting engagement in wellness and participation in campus programs, services, and events.

Wellness initiatives range from ""Energize to Be Well"" to promote an active lifestyle; ""Burn Calories, Not Kilowatts"" & ""Go Green in your Daily Routine"" to encourage taking the stairs; and ""I HEART Tap Water"" to promote tap water as an alternative to bringing plastic water bottles to work.

Given that the role of a Wellness Ambassador is primarily sharing monthly communication from the Be Well at Work – Wellness program, the time commitment is approximately 1 hour per month. In addition, Wellness Ambassadors are encouraged to attend trainings in August and January. These trainings provide valuable information on upcoming faculty/staff workshops and resources and featured programs during the semester.
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Berkeley Public Health Wellness & Sustainability Committee

The Berkeley Public Health Wellness & Sustainability Committee is focused on fostering wellness and creating a more sustainable school for students, faculty, and staff. All students, faculty, and staff are welcome to join. The Wellness & Sustainability Committee has worked on a number of fun sustainability-oriented projects like hosting Clean Air Day Challenges and hosting a Freecycle Event to encourage the BPH community to share and reuse items instead of sending them to the landfill. Another initiative hosted by the committee is the Plant/Gardening Share and Learn. Plant-minded friends share about indoor and outdoor gardening adventures, talk about their favorite plants and favorite planting tips, and learn from others as well. The committee meets regularly throughout the academic year, and a listserve helps disseminate sustainability education and tips as well.

https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/student-life/wellness-and-sustainability/
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Sustainability Staff Training

The Office of Sustainability recently launched an on-line staff sustainability training program and is developing a peer to peer education component. There are no numbers to share to date, but the intention is this program will help us build a widespread culture and community of sustainability at Berkeley.

https://sustainability.berkeley.edu/news/new-office-sustainability-staff-training-and-certification-program


Number of trained employee educators (all other programs):
165

Number of weeks, on average, the employee educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
48

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (all other programs):
0.50

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all other programs):
2,920

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all programs):
7,200

Hours worked annually by trained employee sustainability educators per employee served by a peer-to-peer program:
0.45

Website URL where information about the employee sustainability educators programs is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

How we reached 100% percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer, sustainability educators program:

The Zero Waste Building Program has been rolled out to 66% of campus buildings, reaching about 10,630 employees.

Twice a year, Housing & Dining Sustainability Advocates provide 200 Cal Dining employees a sustainability update training.

The Green Department Certification Program has certified 30 departments, totaling about 4,430 employees (or 27% of total workforce).

In 2018-2019, 87 Wellness Ambassadors served approximately 6,100 employees.

For more information, visit the following websites:

Zero Waste Building Program: https://facilities.berkeley.edu/operating-units/campus-operations/cal-zero-waste/zero-waste-building-program-2020

Housing & Dining Sustainability Advocates (HADSA): https://rsspsustainability.berkeley.edu/

Green Department Certification: https://sustainability.berkeley.edu/engage/green-certifications

Wellness Ambassadors: https://uhs.berkeley.edu/facstaff/wellness/wellness-ambassadors
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Information in this field was provided by the UC Berkeley Office of Sustainability, Housing and Dining Sustainability Advocates, and Cal Zero Waste.


How we reached 100% percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer, sustainability educators program:

The Zero Waste Building Program has been rolled out to 66% of campus buildings, reaching about 10,630 employees.

Twice a year, Housing & Dining Sustainability Advocates provide 200 Cal Dining employees a sustainability update training.

The Green Department Certification Program has certified 30 departments, totaling about 4,430 employees (or 27% of total workforce).

In 2018-2019, 87 Wellness Ambassadors served approximately 6,100 employees.

For more information, visit the following websites:

Zero Waste Building Program: https://facilities.berkeley.edu/operating-units/campus-operations/cal-zero-waste/zero-waste-building-program-2020

Housing & Dining Sustainability Advocates (HADSA): https://rsspsustainability.berkeley.edu/

Green Department Certification: https://sustainability.berkeley.edu/engage/green-certifications

Wellness Ambassadors: https://uhs.berkeley.edu/facstaff/wellness/wellness-ambassadors
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Information in this field was provided by the UC Berkeley Office of Sustainability, Housing and Dining Sustainability Advocates, and Cal Zero Waste.

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.