University of California, Davis
IN-3: Innovation 3

Creative Reuse of Waste

UC Davis is always thinking of ways to turn waste into an asset: First it was olives, then it was waste oil from milling and wood from felled trees and prunings, and now, it's landscape trimmings.

University Catering | UC Davis Dining Services sought a way to improve the sustainability of the floral arrangements used as decor at catered events and in various campus dining operations. Through collaboration with UC Davis Campus Grown and UC Davis Grounds and Landscape Services campus grown clippings were sourced for this purpose. Grounds and Landscape Services were already regularly pruning campus trees, flowers and shrubs for the health of the plants. Dining Services challenged them to selectively prune ornamental clippings for exclusive use in greenery and floral arrangements that could be used at special events and in campus dining operations as décor. The initiative of the Campus Grown program is to transform unused assets into retail products designed to support and promote university programs and sustainability goals. The compatibility of these goals led to the successful innovation behind Campus Grown Greenery.

UC Davis Dining Services strives to strengthen the UC Davis community through featuring campus grown and produced items in dining operations. These efforts also aim to maximize on-campus resources and increase the amount of sustainable and locally produced food and products used. Campus grown and produced items also provide educational opportunities for students, staff, faculty and campus dining guests and increased knowledge and transparency about food and horticulture production and sustainability on the UC Davis campus.

The partnership between Dining Services and Campus Grown has increased the visibility of these programs and products and given the campus community the opportunity to enjoy and experience them in their daily dining experiences and at special events. It has also brought a valuable source of revenue to UC Davis Grounds and Landscape Services.

In addition to repurposing landscape prunings, faculty and students have championed another means of creative reuse. Rescued from the landfill, funky things and perfectly useful materials find a new life at the Aggie ReStore. Design professor Ann Savageau teaches a sustainable design class in which students design new products from things considered waste, and the class led to the idea of opening a retail shop to divert materials from landfills and redistribute them at low cost for reuse or repurposing, and to also offer a venue for students to sell their handcrafted items made from recycled materials. Professor Savageau and several students opened the Aggie ReStore in the student union in January 2012.

For further information:
Olives: http://goodlife.ucdavis.edu/olive_products/
Olive oil body products from waste milling oil: http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=9681
Turned bowls from felled trees and prunings: http://goodlife.ucdavis.edu/campus_grown/
Arrangements from landscape prunings:
http://campusgrown.ucdavis.edu/local_resources/documents/campus_grown_press_release_052411.pdf
Aggie ReStore: http://aggierestore.ucdavis.edu/ and http://ucdavis.edu/ucdavis-today/archive/20120127-restore.html