Campus Re-Vamp

I suppose if you were to "break down" Riverside Community College (Riverside Campus, to be specific), one would need to analyze the follow;

1. Are the Recycling Stations actually being utilized?

-Bottles & Can stations

-Paper Recycling

2. Waste consumption

-Plastics and Styrofoam containers in the cafeteria.

I'm sure on the grand scheme of sustainability, one would need to investigate into more detail other practices to ensure a "greener" campus, but for the sake of this blog, we're gonna stick to those two.

A few other campuses have already started focusing on Waste Management & Recycling.

For example, Florida State has kicked their recycling efforts up a notch. They've created more events to encourage re-using items instead of just trashing them. You can find all the information and ideas here: http://www.facilities.fsu.edu/sustainability/?q=node/23

If you look on the left column and hover over the links, there will be a side pop-up that shows the different ideas on sustainability. It's kinda neat the ideas they had.

Now, this website argues that a sustainable campus is more cost effective - you can find that exciting information right hurr: http://www.climateneutralcampus.com/landing.php?whitepaper=creating-a-sustainable-campus-can-be-cost-effective

On that same note, here's their article about reducing waste and increasing value. Holla. http://www.climateneutralcampus.com/landing.php?whitepaper=creating-a-sustainable-campus-can-be-cost-effective

Arizona State and the Uni of New Hampshire followed up with Waste Management (You know, the dudes with the big green trucks with the yellow WM logo plastered all over it) and they invested in solar-powered trash compactors, Recycle compactors (which, they noted were strategically & convienently placed, so the lazy college kids had no excuse to not recycle their leftover beer cans/bottles. ;] ) By doing all of this, they've reduced their trash pick up by an insane amount - I believe they said around 80%! How rad is that?

Intrigued by all this managing of waste, I decided to look in to WM's sustainable ideas. I filled out their little questionnaire, and left my information down for them to contact me with ideas on how to make our campus greener step by step. I'm actually really excited about it, because once we're able to implement a program at RCC Main Campus, we'll not only be able to expand to the other campuses, but perhaps other students will take the ideas with them when they transfer and implement it at other universities. I know for sure once I have an idea of what to do, I'm gonna proposition the MSJC council to do the same. We'll all be little green-world-saving students. Sweet. :D

(Oh, you can find the WM information here: http://www.wmsustainabilityservices.com/strategic-offerings/zero-waste.asp)

Now, if I were to take this head-on all by my tiny lonesome, where the heck would I start? Well, I'd hope Paul Pistono (VP of Public Sector Solution at WM) would get back to me, but that's besides the point. Say he was a dirty liar and I had to start from square one, without them. Eek.

Firstly: Talk to the directors of the school. Seeing as they run this whole show, they'll probably be the guys to talk to. If I can convince them that going green would actually save them some green, this could have a shot. Doing so, this will require some serious research and/or figures. Word on the street is that big wigs like charts & numbers & saving money. (Note to self, attain all these things)

In order to get said charts and numbers and savins money figures, I'm gonna need some permission to troll around the campus and inquire on the garbage situation. See how much waste the campus as a whole is going through on a weekly basis. How would I do that? I have no idea. Maybe I can talk some janitors into letting me tag along when they take out the trash, and I can weigh each bag before they throw it out. Then perhaps once I get an idea on how to measure, we can see how frequently the trash man picks up, and how often that costs us in student fees. -__-

However, I do know that Sustainabilty Club does their own recycling, so perhaps I could see how much recycling they get per week/how often they go to drop of the recycling/ how much monies they get from the recycling, ect. to throw in to my figures.

Now, I believe it's time for a random student/teacher poll. Hang out in the cafeteria, and politely harrass some 100+ students and/or teachers.

Some things to ask? And hope they're being honest... :

- How often do you eat at RCC?

- Do you throw your trash away around campus or do you take it home (Who knows, maybe they have a lunch box or something and keep the trash inside?)

- Are you really gonna recycle that plastic bottle you're drinking out of?

- Do your teachers give you assignments online or do they print them out? And is it double sided/single sided?

- Do you keep your assignments after they're passed back to you at the end of the semester? Do you junk them immediately? Recycle the paper at all?

Perhaps I can bribe some friends with cookies into helping me do this. :] I think the beginnings of this project would be primarily based on volunteer work and cookies. On the upside, if we were able to convince the big wigs with some amazing research and the warmheartedness that it took to do all this background work (based on cookie payments) we could use some if the money that the campus would be saving and invest it into actual workers or technology to keep the program up. Hopefully WM does follow up with me soon, so I can get the numbers on how much the technology cost, and things like that. I think it would be pretty rad and relatively feasible to do this. :] Fingers crossed.