Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 50.18
Liaison Allen Bottorff
Submission Date Oct. 8, 2012
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

Valencia College
ER-2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 5.00 / 5.00 Deborah Green
Director of Sustainability
Facilities
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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Does the institution hold a campaign that meets the criteria for this credit?:
Yes

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The name of the campaign(s):
Recyclemania

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A brief description of the campaign(s):
Valencia College has a Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign called Recyclemania. Separate recycle bins for plastic bottles and aluminum cans are provided at the entrance to every building, along corridors, in break rooms, the cafeteria, and other key locations. Adjacent to the recycle bins are separate receptacles marked Landfill. Receptacles for paper are in every classroom. During the competition, email publicity and articles in the student newspaper encourage recycling. Student government collaborates with Facilities on events that educate about recycling (America Recycles Day, Earth Day) .

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A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign(s):
Prior to its first year of entry in the Recyclemania competition (2010),Valencia College was recycling less than 30% percent of its total waste. Following the competition, we recycled approximately 50% percent of our waste. (There were no other major events or changes that would have influenced the recycling rate during this period.) Since the recycling rate increased following the outreach campaign, the campaign led to a measurable, positive impact on the college's sustainability performance. Valencia College won first in Recyclemania 2012 in the Waste Minimization category, after winning 2nd in that category in 2011 and 4th in 2010.

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The website URL where information about the sustainability outreach campaign(s) is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
In addition to what the student effort has accomplished, cardboard from the bookstore is a major part of the recycled waste stream, and bookstore staff participated fully, along with cafeteria staff. Savings in waste disposal costs through the recycling program have been used to pay for more recycle bins.

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