Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 69.27
Liaison Mark Klapatch-Mathias
Submission Date Feb. 29, 2024

STARS v2.2

University of Wisconsin-River Falls
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Mark Klapatch-Mathias
Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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?:
Yes

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?:
Yes

1st campaign 

Name of the campaign:
Campus Race to Zero Waste

A brief description of the campaign:
Campus Race to Zero Waste, a nationwide competition between colleges and universities to increase recycling, was held at the beginning of the spring semester. UWRF has participated annually for over 15 years. During the competition, UWRF conducted outreach and held events about the benefits of recycling. Specific outreach to students included signage in the residence halls, social media posts, and partnering with student organizations. Specific outreach to employees included notices in the Falcon Daily campus newsletter that all employees receive and outreach from our Sustainability Champions to each of their buildings and departments. We also partner this with a film screening that is open to students, employees, and the public. Our most recent film screening was Racing to Zero and included a facilitated discussion afterwards.

A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:
Additional students and employees engaged in conversations about recycling and reducing contamination. UWRF experienced increased recycling participation and documented an increase in recycled materials.

if reporting an additional campaign, provide:

2nd campaign

Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
Single Use Plastic Reduction

A brief description of the campaign (2nd campaign):
The Pre Health Society student organization is currently working on reducing single-use plastics available on campus through vending machines and our dining services venues. They have hosted events to connect with students for support to promote canned water and reusable bottles. A subset of our Sustainability Champions have also worked on educating other employees about the need for plastic reduction and alternatives.

A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):
This effort started during the fall 2023 semester, so no measured impacts are available. The campaign is an awareness campaign to get contracts changed in the future.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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