Blueprint for a Green Campus (2003 Update) 

Table of Contents | Summary | Climate-Friendly Campus | Growing Without Increasing Traffic | Safe/Healthy Campus | Consumption and Disposal Habits | 2002 Blueprint Update | 2001 Blueprint Update | Original Blueprint  

Greening Campus Consumption and Disposal Habits

Part I: Purchasing Environmentally-Responsible Products

The Vision

CU adopts an environmentally-preferable purchasing policy which will institute standards for environmentally responsible purchasing.

Progress during 2002-2003

General Campus-wide Progress:

• There has been significant progress by a number of campus departments, but not institutional progress on the goal of establishing an environmentally preferable purchasing policy for the CU-Boulder campus.
• Tree-Free Paper Consumption: Wilderness Study Group campaigned for increasing the use of recycled disposal paper consumption on the CU campus. After researching and recommending 100% recycled content toilet paper and paper towels products, Facilities Management not only switched to recycled paper products in all general fund building bathrooms, but also saved money in the process. The products now in use cost slightly less than previously used non-recycled products.
• Campus Printing Initiative (CPI): The CPI's pay-for-print program is estimated to reduce the amount of paper used in computer labs by 50 percent, or approximately 7,5000,000 sheets of paper. The tests of recycled paper in printers have been positive, showing that 100% post-consumer recycled paper is performing well in the machines. To date, the program has been using Eureka 100 paper.
• Policy/Contract Reform: Meetings with the staff of CU's Procurement Service Center (PSC) have addressed key issues necessary to implementing environmentally preferable purchasing policies. Discussions in 2002-2003 with PSC related to prioritizing goods and services where procurement standards and contract reform could be piloted. Computers were selected as one of the product categories to pilot but this work is delayed as CU will be part of a regional contract for computer products slated for revision within 3 years. Further discussion and recommendations need to occur. PSC also agreed to generate a list of upcoming contracts where environmental standards could apply.
• Green Purchasing Expo: The Green Purchasing Expo, held in conjunction with the Campus Sustainability Summit, was organized to bring higher education purchasing departments together with environmentally friendly product and service vendors. Oftentimes, despite a desire to green their campuses, higher education procurement staff are simply unaware of the environmentally preferable alternatives available in the marketplace. The intent of the Expo was to provide a much-needed link between procurement personnel and environmentally friendly businesses. Over twenty businesses attended the first Expo.

Progress by Facilities Management:

• Environmental Services currently reviewing and rating all cleaners and disinfectants used by custodians based on toxicity. This is an ongoing project; To date, 206 cleaners have been reviewed and ranked.
• Environmental Services continues to research, test, and use least-toxic pesticides for use in the IPM program. All pesticides used have the least possible potential to impact human health, the environment and non-target species.
• Environmental Services switched to 100% recycled content (minimum 20% post-consumer) toilet paper stocked in general fund buildings in February, 2003.

Progress by Housing:

• Housing is underway with its green building program. In the fall of 2002, Housing contracted with a green building consultant to identify opportunities to incorporate green building materials and methods in both major construction and smaller maintenance projects. Procurement procedures that currently act as barriers to using green products will be modified to support this activity. Training sessions to familiarize project managers and supervisors will be provided, and project management procedures will be modified to help make incorporating green measures a new Housing standard.
• Items typically stocked in Housing Services' warehouse such as paints, finishes, and adhesives will be evaluated for cost and performance against environmentally healthier alternatives. If this evaluation favors these alternatives, they will likely become standard stocked items.
• The maintenance supervisors for Family Housing are looking at making recycled content/recyclable carpeting the standard for replacement carpeting in all apartment units.

Outreach to Campus Departments:

The student outreach staff at CU Recycling have been conducting visits to campus offices to share information and make recommendations on a variety of environmental issues, particularly recycling, waste reduction, and environmentally friendly purchasing options. The Green Products Guide and updated recycled paper price, quality and availability information are distributed as part of a "green" folder containing a variety of campus environmental information. Staff have already visited and shared information with over 50 offices in 10 buildings.

Next Steps

The Environmental Center will update, reprint and redistribute the Green Products Guide.

Based on consumption reports from cost centers, UCSU staff plan to develop and propose a pilot environmentally-preferable purchasing policy.

The Campus Environmental Council formed a subcommittee to research and recommend next steps for environmentally preferable purchasing programs and policies.

Discussion Topics

• How can Procurement Services assist in tracking the amount of green products being purchased and in determining the price, quality and availability of the more environmentally friendly products?
• What would be an appropriate green procurement policy for CU-Boulder and/or the University of Colorado system?
• Which vendor contracts could be revised to include environmentally-preferable alternatives?

Additional Information

• Center for a New American Dream
• EPA guide to state and local green purchasing

Part II: Capping Solid Waste Going to the Landfill at Year 2000 Levels

The Vision

As CU grows, we will cap the amount of solid waste going to the landfill at year 2000 volumes by increasing recycling and composting efforts and by using market incentives, new technologies, and purchasing policies to reduce waste generation on campus.

Progress during 2002-2003

The recycling program continues to make important advances yet faces significant challenges in the coming year. Accomplishments include record levels of grant funding, continued capital investment by UCSU, and dozens of operational, managerial, and promotional improvements. The Student-Administrative Partnership for Recycling, formed by the Chancellor in 1991, continues to serve the campus well.

Operations

CU's recycling program is organized as a partnership among UCSU, the Housing department, and Facilities Management. Twenty-seven UCSU employees, ten Facilities Management and Housing employees, one full-time VISTA volunteer, and countless volunteer hours provide staffing for the program. The program recycles between 3-5 tons each workday from more than 750 locations on campus. Over 30 percent of the campus waste stream is diverted through the recycling program.

A steady progression in CU Recycling's collection and processing can be seen below.

Some of the recent operational improvements that contribute to these increases include:

• Expanded collection of valuable high-grade paper from Family Housing courts.
• Expanded automated collections of cardboard from residence halls and family housing courts.
• Expanded the Construction and Demolition waste recycling and reuse effort as part of UMC project. UCSU and Facilities Management worked to determine potential for C&D recovery in the Grandview area and Hunter demolition. Note that the volume of C&D material recycled is not included in addition to that shown above.
• Expanded toner cartridge collections and increased confidential shredding service as revenue-generating mechanisms
• Boosted Facilities Management's central collection locations from 650 in 2001 to 765 currently
• Increased desk-side recycling bins to over 10,000

CU Recycling also continued its cardboard recycling program during residence hall move-in. This fall, over 6,000 CU students loaded with moving boxes for computers, stereos and bicycles recycled 16.5 tons of cardboard during the two-week move-in period. Participation was close to 100%, which diverted over 400 cubic yards of cardboard from the landfill. This effort is an exceptional example of achieving both disposal cost savings and environmental benefits and reflects the strength of the program's partnership between UCSU, Facilities Management and Housing. It also exposes incoming students from the beginning to recycling at CU.

The recycling program offers recycling at special events on-campus such as concerts, career fairs, the Bolder Boulder, and home football games. The 2002 football season was one for the recycling record books as over 9,541 pounds of co-mingled containers, 1,999 pounds of cardboard, and 798 pounds of office paper were collected by student staff.

CU Recycling now partners with Cerebral Palsy to collect donated charitable goods (i.e., clothing and appliances) during residence hall move-out. CU Recycling also coordinates the proper disposal of common move-out items such as loft wood and cinderblocks as part of this reusables drive.

Outreach:

• Conducting additional outreach to hall directors and resident advisors
• Conducting surveys of resident hall students and building proctors
• Initiating the "Green Office Project" which performs environmental assessments of offices, increases direct contact with faculty and staff, and provides information and recommendations for improved recycling and waste reduction
• Reinstituting the custodial appreciation program
• Improving communications between operations and outreach staff to better track contamination and prevent overruns.

Program Development: Continued Capital Expansion Plan

The recycling program continued to benefit from UCSU's resolution in 2000-01 to support a four-year capital development campaign. This campaign prioritizes capital improvements based on:

• amount of recyclables diverted from the waste stream,
• visibility,
• ease of implementation,
• cost-effectiveness.

$83,500 was approved by UCSU in fiscal year 2000-01 to fund purchase of recycling containers, distribute new outreach materials, and implement an automated cardboard recycling system. $61,533 in Year Two expansion was approved for additional containers, improved visibility and collections in the Housing department, and increased catalog, magazine, and textbook recycling. $63,500 was approved for the current year to continue placing containers as well as a cardboard compactor for the UMC and beginning phases of a food waste composting project.

These capital improvements are having desired effects. Cardboard collections for instance have increased 52 percent (to 239 tons last year), as a result of new equipment. Visibility and convenience for students has also been enhanced with approximately 35 additional locations and 15 upgraded containers. These improvements have also helped stimulate operational involvement from Facilities Management and the Housing department, particularly in the area of composting.

The four-year capital expansion plan as approved and funded by UCSU has also advanced educational materials and activities. Years One, Two and Three capital outreach projects, as listed below, have produced signs, displays and brochures and have resulted in improved information and increased awareness.

• Green products guide
• Family Housing cabinet stickers and Housing in-room container stickers
• Deskside container stickers
• Color poster displays in residence halls and academic buildings
• Family Housing signs
• Housing dock signs
• Expanded information on container labels
• Signage in classrooms
• Signage at indoor central locations
• Stamps for mail clerks to use on incoming cardboard boxes

The fourth year of capital funding assistance from UCSU will continue to lever increased involvement from other departments. CU Recycling is currently evaluating the projects for the coming Fiscal Year. A funding request will be presented to UCSU Finance Board.

Food Waste Composting: CU Recycling was awarded $10,000 by the Governor's Office of Energy Management and Conservation last year to research and recommend food waste composting options for institutions in Colorado. The planning guide which students and staff created can be viewed here.

As a result of the research, CU's composting proposal was defined. Several operational options to cost-effectively process 650 tons annually from the Housing department are being finalized. Capital funding from UCSU has been an important factor in enabling the Housing department's participation. The United States EPA also awarded the Housing Department $55,000 towards implementation of an in vessel food waste composting project, to be developed in cooperation with the Environmental Center and Facilities Management. The housing department is also leveraging investment from its performance contract with Siemens. The largest outstanding issue is the siting of the facility.

Electronics: The emerging problem of "e-waste" is also being addressed. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency funded CU Recycling to recommend reuse and recycling options for computers and electronics. Regulations now require businesses and institutions to change their disposal methods for this toxic part of the waste stream. CU's President's Office, the State Office of Economic Development, and the Corporation for National Service are assisting the project.

Thus far, 105 computer systems have been provided to disadvantaged groups around the state. In addition to the social benefits of donating an estimated $69,000 worth of equipment, COMEX was able to divert an estimated 5,300 pounds of lead, cadmium, mercury and other materials from local landfills. This information was recently delivered at seven Small Business Development workshops around the state.

Recycling Facility Relocation: Recycling staff in the Environmental Center, Facilities Management, and Housing spent hundreds of hours over the past year trying to find a suitable location for a new recycling facility before the second phase of stadium expansion displaces the current one. The Environmental Center's requirements for a new facility were reiterated to the Athletic Department, Facilities Planning department, and the Boulder Campus Planning Committee (BCPC). These provisions include full replacement funds for the facility from Athletics, no interruption in service, access by student employees, and room for planned expansion. UCSU passed a student government resolution in 2000. In 2001, BCPC revised the Athletics Micro-Master Plan to require that recycling's basic needs be met. A Business Plan which quantified financial and operational impacts of relocating the facility off campus was requested by the Vice Chancellor for Administration and was completed in 2002. The subsequent site selection process for possible locations was taken to BCPC in April 2002. Facilities Management recommended an east campus site; the site selection committee recommended that both east campus and main campus sites be considered, and BCPC asked for additional financial analysis of the impact of a move to east campus before making a decision. The next step was the initiation of a "business plan review."

Business Plan Review: In November, the Vice Chancellors for Administration and Student Affairs contracted a consultant to conduct a thorough assessment of CU Recycling's activities and finances and to recommend the most cost-effective scenarios for a future recycling program at CU. The report, released in Spring 2003, contains historical and structural information and finds that CU's recycling program serves the campus cost-effectively. There are a number of highlights from the report. It points out that over 1,400 tons will be recycled at CU Boulder this year, which accounts for approximately 30% of the waste generated on campus.

This analysis indicates that recycling is saving Facilities Management a net of $175,000 per year in solid waste costs. For general fund waste, trash disposal costs Facilities Management $601/ton; recycling costs them $286/ton. In the aggregate, every ton recycled in the general fund buildings saves the general fund $315. Each dollar spent on recycling saves $2.10 in trash. The reasons that recycling is so much cheaper are interesting. The primary reason is not the tipping fee charged at the landfill (landfill fees are only $20/ton!), but reflect the fact that the system that has developed on campus for collection and transport of recyclables materials is much lower cost than the collection and transport of solid waste.

The complete review can be viewed here.

Additional Progress by Facilities Management:

Partnered with Housing and UCSU to implement automated collections of cardboard from residence halls and family housing courts. Plans in place to expand program further with additional funding from UCSU and Housing. A six-month temporary position was created for the purpose of expanding and formalizing automated cardboard locations in Housing.

Grounds partnered with UCSU to establish collection of recyclables from outdoor recycling stations. Looking at possibility of revising entire grounds trash collection program to maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and include recycling at majority of outdoor trash locations. Project was temporarily delayed by budget cuts but on track for partial implementation in Fall 2003.

Environmental Services is also investigating the possibility of using high efficiency hand dryers in campus restrooms. This could save over 5600 cases of paper towels paper year.

Additional Progress by Housing:

Housing is investigating the possibility of a food compost project for handling pre-consumer food in all eight of Housing's kitchens. There is an estimated 600 tons of pre-consumer food waste that could be diverted from the landfill. With the support of the Environmental Center and an EPA grant, we are currently looking at partnering with a local recycler to compost the food waste off campus through either aerated windrows (long rows) or vermicomposting (using worms to accelerate the decomposition). If this project were to get the green light, Housing could increase its diversion rate from 15% to 42%.

610 pallets were reused/recycled by a pallet vendor; any broken ones are chipped up and used as mulch.

In the Fall of 2003, the Pay-for-Printing program will return to Housing's computer labs, saving an estimated 800 reams of paper annually.

Housing has chipped its organic wastes since 2001, diverting an estimated 36 tons from the landfill, and using it as mulch.

All scrap metal generated by Housing Services is recycled.

Next Steps

Capital Development: As previously mentioned, the goal for the coming year will be to fully implement the projects already approved by UCSU. Specific activities will address:

• Grounds department's collection of 14 outdoor public recycling stations,
• Siting 11 new cardboard recycling locations at residence halls and family housing courts,
• Siting additional locations for catalogs and magazines.
• Improving appearance and functionality of 16 outdoor locations.
• Resolving space constraints for a textbook shear which removes covers and bindings, and allows high-grade fibers to be recovered for recycling.
• Contributing to the Housing department's purchase of food waste composting equipment.

The successful development of a food waste composting system is a time consuming challenge, but when implemented, will increase the number of tons of material diverted from the landfill by 50%.

An additional goal will be to recommend a forth year of funding for capital improvements. While this request is still being finalized, it will reflect the analysis and discussion currently underway as part of the Vice Chancellor's business review as well as CU Recycling's program assessment.

Waste Diversion Potential Analysis: The Housing department has provided funding for an outside consultant (Skumatz Economic Research Associates) to conduct an analysis of the potential for waste diversion activities. This will be important information in order to design a replacement recycling facility.

Recycling Financial Advisory Board: The vice chancellors have created a new advisory board to provide advice on major programmatic and capital decisions. It will begin meeting in fall 2003.

New Recycling Facility: A site needs to be selected and a facility designed to replace the existing campus recycling center, which will be displaced by the next phase of the stadium expansion.