A recent heavy rainstorm in St. Louis caused a storm drain backup and minor flooding in the gymnasium in the basement of Olin Residence Hall at the School of Medicine. The WUSM facilities team was able to solve the drainage problem to prevent flooding in future rain events, but the gym floor was not able […]
Educate the WashU community about correct waste sorting while ensuring that events are truly zero waste. Volunteers are needed for first year Move-In, the WUSM Employee Picnic, and the Chancellor’s Inauguration Celebration. First-year Student Move-In: August 17 For several years, the WashU Green Ambassadors have assisted the ResLife Housekeeping team with diverting massive amounts of […]
Joe Mitchoff graduated from the WashU Olin Business School in 2000 with a Master of Business Administration. He is the co-founder and CEO of Viridian Reclaimed Wood, a company based in Portland, Oregon that has pioneered a method to up-cycle used wood into unique pieces of furniture. Viridian Reclaimed Wood began in 2004 as a […]
“To the chickens!” is now a common phrase used in the Clinical Translational Research Unit (CTRU) Metabolic Research Kitchen. This refers to the food scraps produced by the kitchen operations that are thrown into bright green 5-gallon buckets and saved for the chickens at Howie Farms, one of the vendors from the School of Medicine […]
As landfills continue to negatively affect both the environment and human health, it is increasingly important for us to take responsibility. Of the many things we can do to decrease our contributions to the landfill, the simplest is to recycle. When recycling, keep recyclable materials clean and dry. Do not put items that aren’t on […]
In this digital age, it can be challenging to navigate the abundance of information that is available to us and to determine resources that are special and worth our time. We created Resource Digest to provide a diverse bank of resources that we here at the Office of Sustainability find enlightening and empowering. All of […]
Sydney Welter is a senior majoring in Environmental Earth Sciences. She enrolled last fall in the Environmental Studies community internship program allowing her to work directly with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) as a River Protection Intern. To mitigate the dramatic impacts that Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) have on human, animal and environmental health, MCE has been […]
The end of the academic year is quickly approaching. Pretty soon it will be time for students to pack up and scatter across the globe, wherever their summer or graduation plans may take them. Since many WashU students come from farther than a packed car-ride away, it is not practical to ship or store their […]
For the 4th year in a row, the WUSM Operations and Facilities Management Department is accepting new and gently used shoes for donation from March 11th through May 31st. Since 2015, the WUSM community has collected over 4 tons of shoes for donation to the ShoeCrew Water Projects, a local non-profit that provides clean water […]
Only a few years ago, WashU student Jenny Fang had one primary sustainability mission in mind—to reduce single-use disposable plastic waste while also saving money. Her idea has since manifested itself into the new Greenware Program, a reusable dishware loan program that is now available for WashU students, staff and faculty to use. The current […]
[Photo Credit: residentialwastesystems.com] It’s the holiday season – the time of pretty lights, gift-giving and family feasts. While we truly love it, we also know that it’s the time when we tend to consume excessively, creating waste and using greater quantities of energy. Remember, the greenest thing you can do is consume less! From […]
Waste Intern Jacob Halladay-Glynn recounts his experience working with middle school students from local Normandy Middle School, who visited Washington University for the Engage 360 program on the first Friday of November. (Note: the picture above was taken during a recycling relay game with WashU students). “On your marks, get set, go!” Two teams of […]
Take advantage of the slower days over the winter break to clean out your office supply cabinets and drawers, then send surplus items to stock the shelves of the new Office Supply Exchange! Nervous about parting with the supplies you’ve been hording for the past 5 years? Relax – that is the beauty of the […]
Every day, between 170 million and 390 million straws are used and thrown out in the United States (according to a recent New York Times fact check). Overall, over 8 million metric tons of plastic makes its way into our oceans every year, killing marine life that ingests it, introducing dangerous toxins into the food chain. Student […]
[Photo Credit: residentialwastesystems.com] It’s the holiday season – the time of pretty lights, gift-giving and family feasts. While we truly love it, we also know that it’s the time when we tend to consume excessively, creating waste and using greater quantities of energy. Remember, the greenest thing you can do is consume less! From gift […]
This November, Washington University in St. Louis is starting a new partnership with the Rockwood School District Renewable Fuel Project to re-launch a closed loop, cradle-to-cradle cooking oil recycling program. This program will allow WashU Dining Services to fuel its three diesel catering trucks with a 50/50 blend of biodiesel year-round. It anticipates reducing the […]
This fall, the Office of Sustainability is launching a green event certification program that provides a framework for best practices, easy access to resources, and recognition for exemplary events and event planners. With hundreds of events planned by professional and non-professional event planners across the university, there is a high potential to reduce, recycle and […]
The new store on the South 40’s storefront came out of necessity. Facing the recurring challenge to find affordable and sustainable clothes for their themed Greek Life parties, Leah Carson, Katie Kim, and Jordan Bloom decided to grab the bull by the horns and to create Weekend Wear. “We wanted to create a solution that […]
This August, a new cohort of WashU Green Ambassadors started their journey to spread sustainability culture on campus with a two-day retreat at Shaw Nature Reserve. During this retreat, the Green Ambassadors connected over team-building activities and received training in various aspects of sustainability at WashU, including green buildings, waste-sorting, alternative transportation, and dining. This […]
Throughout each semester, the medical students at WashU School of Medicine attend daily lunch lectures. The Operations and Facilities Management Department (OFMD) recently supported the Student Sustainability Group in their effort to reduce the waste footprint for these catered events for the first 2 weeks, when lecture attendance is highest. The student group’s leader, Alex […]
Marc Zornes graduated from WashU in 2004 with a degree in Entrepreneurship and Computer Science. In addition to working with the U.S. Green Building Council and McKinsey & Company, Marc is best known for his founding of Winnow Solutions. Winnow aims to help businesses like hotels, restaurants, and cruise lines reduce their food waste […]
Washington University in St. Louis is being recognized nationally for its institution-wide sustainability efforts: the school recently earned a gold STARS rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System) measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education. The university also landed in […]
“The Last Straw” for Bon Appétit The School of Medicine campus has two major dining facilities – Shell Café in McDonnell Medical Sciences Building and Farmstead Café in McDonnell Pediatric Research Building. Both of these cafés are operated by Bon Appétit Management Company, a full food-service management company based in Palo Alto, CA. Sustainability is […]
This is the final section of a three-part interview with Melinda on her journey through the world of sustainability. You can find the first part of this interview series here. In this section, we discuss the impact that we can all make in our daily lives […]
[Pile of plastics in China – Photo Credit: Fred Dufour/Agence France-Presse] In 2010, WashU made the transition to single-stream recycling on all campuses, making it easy and convenient for the university community to recycle. At the time, this change helped the university to nearly double consumer waste diversion. Today, about 42% of the waste generated by […]
Since 2014, Washington University in St. Louis has pursued zero waste receptions throughout the Commencement celebration. Typically, receptions achieve 98% waste diversion through recycling and composting. Some of our standard practices include: 100% recyclable or compostable serviceware at each commencement reception. Waste collection stations with trained volunteers and staff to help attendees correctly sort waste […]
As the semester ends, students pack up their St. Louis homes and transition to summer experiences. With only so much space in the car or storage unit, many belongings become available for new uses and new owners. Thanks to the Share Our Stuff Initiative, a tremendous amount of usable goods are diverted from the landfill, for use […]
This article was written by Mackenzie Hines-Wilson, Communication Associate at the Office of Sustainability and resident of Dardick where the composting pilot took place. According to the EPA, about 38 million tons of food is wasted every year, of which only 5% is composted. The WashU Green Ambassador (WUGA) Waste Team, a peer-to-peer education program […]
Green Events Help educate the WashU community about how to correctly sort waste while ensuring that iconic events are truly zero waste. ThurtenE Carnival April 13-15 // Parking lot in front of Simon Hall and Francis Field Manage waste stations and help attendees correctly sort their waste into landfill, recycling and compost! Volunteers are eligible […]
Above: “Barrel Mountain” by Jason Hargrove was inspired by his visit to the Weldon Springs toxic waste containment site where uranium was processed and stored. On February 1, the EPA released a record of the decision announcing its new proposal to remove radioactive waste from the West Lake Landfill. This removal strategy proposes the excavation of […]
The following article has been contributed by SWAP (Sharing With A Purpose), the only nonprofit student business at Washington University. Claire Irawan, Sustainability Coordinator for SWAP and freshman at WashU, tells us about PLAN and its involvement with WashU’s Earth Week. WashU’s nonprofit Sharing With A Purpose (SWAP) is proud to bring the Points of […]
Last month, the Student Sustainability Board (SSB) allocated $2,200 to support a project that aims to introduce composting in on-campus residential areas. Thanks to the funding allocation, the WashU Green Ambassadors’ waste team will be able to implement a pilot phase of their project in Dardick Hall, one of the Residential Colleges of the South 40 […]
When she joined Washington University in late October of 2016, Michelle Gelven quickly noticed the large boxes of plastic cutlery available in the Alumni & Development’s common kitchen. While many of her colleagues bring prepared meals in a reusable container, avoiding the use of a disposable box, most of them were still using single-use cutlery […]
The Office of Sustainability and Brown School of Social Work are pleased to announce that Hillman Hall has accepted the Race to Zero Waste Challenge as part of WashU’s participation in RecycleMania. RecycleMania is an annual national competition where higher education institutions report waste diversion data and compete with each other to reduce and recycle […]
For the past few years, WashU has participated in an annual recycling competition with over two hundred colleges and universities across the US and Canada. This year’s eight-week competition kicked off last Sunday, February 4th, and will continue through March 31st. With each participating college reporting detailed waste reduction and diversion statistics, each week poses […]
The WUGA program (Washington University Green Ambassadors) is currently seeking applicants for two student director positions. The WUGA program is a student-led, peer-education program supported by the Office of Sustainability that orients new students to sustainable living practices at WashU. WUGAs play a critical role in training first year student to adopt behaviors that align […]
Washington University Mail Services collects, processes and distributes nearly five million pieces of incoming United States Postal Service (USPS) mail each year. About a third of this mail (or 1.67 million pieces) is undeliverable if staff or students are no longer at the University or if the commercial mail is unwanted. How is waste being […]
The Office of Sustainability is happy to feature an article by SWAP (Sharing With A Purpose), the only nonprofit student business at Washington University. Eva Blumenfeld, Director of Marketing tell us about WUpcycle, a new program aiming at recovering “unwearable” clothes and turning them into unique and creative pieces of fashion. Upcycle: Transform Waste […]
October was Campus Sustainability Month at WashU and in many other universities and colleges across the US. During October, the WashU community was offered a wide variety of events, ranging from festivals to conferences, movie screenings, tours, panel discussions, and more. With sustainability as a driver, the topics covered by these events were also very […]
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) and Campus Sustainability Month. The Information Security Office (ISO), Office of Sustainability, and Knight-Center Aramark have partnered to host an electronics recycling and confidential paper shredding event to raise awareness of security and data privacy, and to champion the sustainability movement within Washington University in St. Louis. […]
The Office of Sustainability is happy to feature an article about SWAP (Sharing With A Purpose), the only nonprofit student business at Washington University. Sylvie Skene, Director of Education and Eva Blumenfeld, Director of Marketing tell us the story of SWAP, its purpose and operations. Learn about the different ways you can get involved with […]
Since 2013, WashU Green Ambassadors (WUGAs) have participated in a coordinated effort to welcome first-year students and quickly get them accustomed to the campus’ sustainability culture. This year, a hands-on approach, greater coordination with the Residential Life custodial staff, and diverting additional materials resulted in significant increases in waste diversion from area landfills. Highlights of […]
In the fall of 2016, the Office of Sustainability introduced a new volunteer program called Recycling Geniuses in response to recurring contamination issues across campus. A significant number of recycling and compost loads were being rejected from their respective collection facilities due to cross-contamination with other waste and improper sorting. The WashU community is committed to lowering contamination rates, […]
Do you find waste sorting puzzling? If you are feeling rusty and need to brush up on what goes where, check out this video that breaks it down, item by item. This video is perfect for sharing with student groups and campus offices during team meetings. Want a Recycling Genius to come to your meeting […]
On July 19, the WashU Information Technology hosted a picnic in Forest Park celebrating the dog days of summer. The event featured hot dogs, real dogs, and…waste stations! By planning ahead to sorting waste and enlist the help of “Recycling On the Go”, a program led by the local non-profit St. Louis Earth Day, and summer interns […]
This Monday, the Bottomless Mug program has returned to all dining facilities serving coffee on campus. Thanks to an ongoing partnership between Bon Appetit and WashU Dining Services, coffee drinkers can save money and prevent hundreds of disposable coffee cups from going to the landfill by buying a “Bottomless Mug”, providing unlimited access to fresh […]
Share Our Stuff is a university-wide effort designed to make it easy for students to donate unwanted items as they pack up and move out at the end of the school year. This campaign collects a wide variety of items in a manner that benefits our community and keeps usable goods out of the landfill. […]
The close of the 2016/17 academic year was punctuated by wonderful celebrations of our graduating students, our amazing staff, and the exciting upcoming transformation of the East End of the Danforth Campus. As has come to be tradition at WashU, all of the celebrations were green events that sought to reduce, compost, and recycle as […]
RecycleMania is an eight-week period in which schools across the country report waste diversion data for three waste streams: landfill, recycle and food organics, and are then ranked in a variety of competitions. The information is compiled and compared to determine each school’s relative standing on per capita waste generation and the overall waste […]
Q: What do you do with old CDs? What about pet supplies or art supplies? Or cans of paint? A: Recycle them! When residential single stream recycling was launched in the City of St. Louis in 2011, it led to a threefold increase in recycling in the first year alone. Since then, progress has plateaued – […]