(PAST CAMPAIGN)
FINAL INITIATIVES:
- Slugware: Provided a set of reusable bamboo tableware for the Student Environmental Center as well as the Education for Sustainable Living Program. This set of bamboo table ware diverts a significant amount of one-time use plates/knives/forks/spoons/cups/bowls at the events both these organizations often hold and adds a holistic, sustainable vibe to any dining function. The recently implemented Bambooware provides an innovative and sustainable aspect to the future of Slugware at UC Santa Cruz.
Slugware is available only upon special request and with advanced notice. To request SlugWare at your event, please fill out this form!
Previous projects:
- Working with CRE at Redwood Grove apartments to spread Graduate Student housing compost system to the 118 Redwood Grove Apartments
- A hard copy document with guidelines on how to hold a Zero Waste Event
Our campaign has worked with Dining Services to perform dining hall waste audits. This is where we collect the food thrown away throughout a 1 hour period, while outreaching and educating students on Food Waste. During the audit, we display a "waste buffet" of full plates of food that was thrown away during that 1 hour collection period in order to educate students on the waste stream they all participate in. Our campaign can coordinate your involvement in these efforts as well.
In the past waste audits, we have found that for a 2-hour lunch period in college 9/10 and Crown/Merrill Dining Halls, 60-100 pounds of food waste is tossed!
Although we do have a compost system set up, if we weren’t wasting roughly 10% of our food to begin with, we wouldn’t have the need to truck compost off our campus by the ton everyday (and using diesel.)
Dining services is always looking for volunteers to work 2 hour shifts in scraping plates and tabling with the results of the weigh in various dining halls throughout the year.
Stevenson Compost system
2013 Graduating Senior, Yukari Shichishima created a system connecting the pre consumer food scraps from Stevenson Cafe to the Stevenson Garden. With help from the East Zone Waste Reduction workers, the Stevenson Cafe Manager and the Stevenson garden workers; she successfully diverted 168 gallons of compost within Spring quarter alone.
To check out details of the system, and ways to possibly start this process at another college, reference Yukari's Closed Loop Composting Systems Resource Guide
refuse, re-use, recycle!
- Refuse conspicuous consumption and the urge to always purchase new goods. There is almost always an alternative to buying a new product from a manufacturer or retailer.
- Re-use your things until they are beyond use. When you are done using your stuff, give it to someone else who can use it or donate it. If all else fails…
- Take the little bit of extra time to recycle your things properly. If you are not sure how to recycle, reach out to university or municipal resources. There are many outlets for information on how to properly dispose of anything from packaging materials to batteries and everything in between.
resources:
- View the Environmental Health & Safety guide for campus waste and recycling.
- Resource recovery for the City of Santa Cruz
- UCSC Green Purchasing Guide for a more sustainable workplace.
- Closed Loop Composting Systems: Resource Guide