University of Utah
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Recycle Rice-Eccles is a student-driven program under the ASUU Sustainability Board. The mission of RRE is to divert recyclable waste from the landfill at the tailgate lot and at the stadium. Volunteers get free admission to the football games, a volunteer ‘green police’ t-shirt, food, and tons of fun! Every home game ASUU’s Recycle Rice-Eccles program helps minimize waste by recycling aluminum cans, glass, and plastic bottles. The great success so far has been possible by the volunteers who have donated their time and energy to help recycle at tailgating events and at the stadium during the game.

Since its beginning five years ago, Recycle Rice-Eccles has collected more than 25,000 pounds of recyclables per year. This great success is made possible thanks to volunteers who have donated their time and energy to collect recyclables from tailgate events and the stadium. A brief story of the inception and development of Recycle Rice-Eccles, written in October 2015, can be found here: http://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/recycle-rice-eccles/ In 2015, the ASUU Sustainability Board Director Sawson Gholami began foundational work to introduce a university wide, pre- and post- consumer composting system that will make Recycle Rice-Eccles even more impactful.

The Clear the Air Challenge is an annual Utah-based competition that promotes alternative forms of transportation. The challenge, which is hosted by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, is all about improving air quality, reducing traffic congestion, and conserving energy in Utah by eliminating unnecessary vehicle trips. By eliminating a few vehicle trips throughout the week, participants can make a big difference in air quality in our community while competing for weekly prizes, grand prizes, and statewide bragging rights. This outreach campaign is held twice a year: in July and January. In July, it is oriented towards faculty and staff. In January, it is also oriented towards students.

In the 2015 Clear Air Challenge, the University of Utah took first place with members logging 15,462 trips other than single-occupant vehicles. This includes walking, biking, public transit, carpooling, working from home, etc. During the Clean Air for U challenge in February 2016, a total of 7,664 trips were logged that avoided SOV commutes. These trips totaled 82,493 miles and 21.5 tons of CO2 saved, and we're very happy with the results considering the cold, wet conditions during winter. Information available at https://travelwisetracker.com/#/challenges/56719e40996a74bc5168c7b1.

It’s Good to Shut the Hood “It’s Good to Shut the Hood” engages chemical fume hood users through educational outreach and stickers on the fume hoods to remind users to shut the hood when not in use and to keep the sash, or window, at a safe working height during use. While fume hoods are essential to keep laboratory researchers safe from toxins and particles, they also require large amounts of energy. Closing these hoods when not in use provides massive energy savings for any research facility. The Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building (SMBB) at the University of Utah piloted “It’s Good to Shut the Hood” in 2014. SMBB saw an estimated savings of $2,000 a month in energy savings. More than 95% of their hoods were closed overnight. While the “Shut the Hood” team has already placed stickers on 300 fume hoods on campus, another 400 fume hoods are set to receive stickers in the coming months. URL: http://facilities.utah.edu/shutthehood.php Recyclemania 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. URL: http://recyclemaniacs.org/ UDrive Electric The U Drive Electric program extends discounts on multiple makes and models of electric vehicles to the community. The second round of U Drive Electric offers U community members and Salt Lake City community members the opportunity to purchase or lease electric and plug-in-hybrid vehicles at discounted prices starting Sept. 12 through Oct. 31, 2016. In round one of U Drive Electric in 2015, 76 electric vehicles were purchased in less than two months. URL: http://utahev.org/u-drive-electric U Community Solar Through U Community Solar, University of Utah is offering members of the campus community a chance to power their homes with clean, renewable solar energy, produced by solar panels on your roof! Members of the University of Utah campus community areeligible for a substantial discount on the cost of rooftop solar and a streamlined, simplified solar installation process. URL: http://mycommunitysolar.org/ucommunitysolar/