| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 70.87 |
| Liaison | Daimon Eklund |
| Submission Date | Dec. 23, 2021 |
University of Washington, Seattle
EN-5: Outreach Campaign
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Daimon
Eklund Communications Manager UW Sustainability |
Has the institution held a sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at students and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Has the institution held a sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at employees and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Name of the campaign:
A brief description of the campaign:
In 2019, the UW started development of a new Sustainability Action Plan, setting goals to direct our sustainability actions over the next five years. As part of this process, a university-wide communications campaign was created to raise awareness of the project and ask for feedback from a broad population of students, faculty and staff across the university.
Outreach included university-wide emails, messages on digital boards in high-traffic buildings, print posters, social media campaigns and content provided to a wide variety of departments for inclusion in their own newsletters and online channels.
A draft of the Sustainability Action Plan was released on Earth Day 2020, with the final version released on July 1, 2020.
https://green.uw.edu/sustainability-plan
A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:
The campaign led to increased awareness and participation in the planning process. A town-hall style event drew more than 100 students, with presentations on the plan and opportunities for workshop discussions about what to include, feedback that was given to the plan working groups. The outreach campaign also drove people to an online survey to provide feedback on the plan which informed the determination of future action items for the campus to take, as well as allowing people on campus to participate in the plan working groups.
Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
A brief description of the campaign (2nd campaign):
RecycleMania is a national competition among universities to promote waste reduction and recycling activities. In 2019, UW Recycling worked with the EcoReps team to promote improved reduction, reuse, and recycling behaviors on campus. As a part of this campaign, UW Recycling tabled in collaboration with EcoReps in front of the Husky Union Building to act as a resource to answer questions and encourage the student community to engage with their waste. UW Recycling also led and supported a ‘Get Caught Green Handed’ event in By George Café, one of the larger public cafes on campus. This event involved student volunteers engaging café customers as they disposed of their waste, congratulating individuals who recycled or composted correctly.
A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):
This campaign raises awareness among students about our campus-wide recycling and composting initiatives by pitting the UW in competition against other rival Pac-12 universities. In 2019, through the above mentioned campaigns and others such as conference presentations, Dawg Daze tabling, and various ‘Trash Talk’ presentations for staff and faculty groups on campus, 5,298 individuals in total were engaged with over the course of the 2019 fiscal year. Each of these contacts was an opportunity to foster education and connection with the larger UW community, which is one of UW Recycling’s key goals. The UW also ranked 15th overall in the 2019 competition.
A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns:
SCRAM
UW Recycling’s annual Student Cleanup, Recycle and Moveout (SCRAM) event captures unwanted items from approximately 5,000 departing students who live in the residence halls. The goal of SCRAM is to divert reusable goods from the landfill and donate those items, such as food, books, clothing, household items, school supplies, and toiletries, to charitable organizations. At the end of the academic year, a donation station is set up at each residence hall to encourage donation and reuse. Each station includes instructional signs and collection containers to separate items. There is also space for donating large items like furniture and home theatre equipment. SCRAM tries to make moving out of the dorms a little easier. The program was featured on UWTV: http://uwtv.org/series/uw360/watch/74YMYrdAsgY/
UW Recycling Trash Talks
UW Recycling hosts regular Trash Talks that provide recycling and compost education directly to the campus community. Past Trash Talks have been held in the main corridor of the HUB (the student union building) right by a waste collection station or at university apartment complexes. UW Recycling believes in engaging students at the source by using fun interactive games and prizes.
Husky Neighborhood Clean-up:
The Husky Neighborhood Clean-up is an annual program designed to mitigate excess items being left out of the street once the majority of students head home for the summer. An unfortunate amount of students don't know how to properly dispose of couches (and the like) that they no longer need, and so they end up left on the curb for local sanitation workers to deal with. The clean up specifically targets students who live in neighborhoods north of campus dorms, who aren't able to access the SCRAM program offered by Housing and Food Services.
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.