Sustainability Intern update: EcoREPS, recyclable crafts, Earth Week planning

Hello all!

On Sunday, March 16, the night before Spring Break, I met up with the Eco-REPS. We discussed working with the R.A.s to communicate to students the recycling rules on campus. The Eco-REPS refined their speeches and made some awesome informative posters!

I am communicating with R.A.s and we will set up times the week following Spring Break for the Eco-REPS to give presentations on the residence hall floors, complete with visual aids!

 Eco-REPS were encouraged to identify some good ideas for recyclable crafting while they were on break.  Meanwhile, I am getting in contact with SMAC to organize an event around this idea.

I am also encouraging the Eco-REPS to consider assisting Kaitlyn Welzen with her hoop house project on April 5^th. She is planning a trip to Appleton to learn how to build a hoop house (similar to a greenhouse, “but with metal ‘hoops’ and plastic sheeting” as she describes it).

 We have a lot of exciting events leading up to Earth Week, so look for them!

I hope everyone had a great Spring Break!

Kristen

Ripon College competes in RecycleMania

Starting today and going for 8 weeks (March 29) our campus will be participating in the national, inter-campus recycling competition, RecycleMania.

The purpose of RecycleMania is to increase awareness about what we're throwing away, to guide us as consumers to use less in the first place, re-use or re-purpose when possible, recycle what can be recycled, and to have FUN doing so.


Each week, I will be posting the number of pounds of solid waste and recycling we haul off campus.  
Pre-season baseline:
Solid waste:  17,259 pounds per week
Single-stream recycling:  4,448 pounds per week

Throughout this competition we will strive to lower the value of solid waste, increase recyclables, and overall have less waste (both solid and recyclable) leaving campus.

Here's what you can do:

1. KNOW what can be recycled!  Paper, plastic (#1-#7), glass, aluminum, milk cartons can all be placed in single-stream recycling.
2. RECYCLE everything that is recyclable.  Sound simple?  It is!  Dump out any food that may be in a container, then recycle.  
3. TEACH others what to recycle.  

More information about waste reduction can be found on this blog under the "waste minimization" tab.

Wellness Fair - learn about health impacts of landfills and commit to reducing the waste you make on campus

Join campus and community members on Tuesday, November 2013 to learn about and participate in Health and Wellness activities relevant to Ripon students. The event will occur in Great Hall on campus 11AM - 2PM

Ripon Sustainability will have a table there to share information with the college community about the health benefits of reducing solid waste and increasing recycling.  Data are gathered from the EPA and DNR websites.  Come by to learn about what is recyclable on campus and meet our EcoREPS.

Sodexo intern update #4: compost, milk carton recycling

I have not written any blog posts in a while since there have not been any major updates lately; so here are a few that have accumulated over the past two weeks.

Firstly, composting within the city limits of Ripon can only occur on residential properties, according to the current city ordinance. This is an obstacle to allowing us to compost here on the college campus, but the situation is being addressed. Hopefully there can be some modification to the current ordinance or we can get an exception to begin composting here in the near future. Stay tuned for future updates on this issue!

Secondly, in researching what can be recycled (because of a question I was asked by a cook in the Commons kitchen,) I found out that soymilk containers and regular milk cartons can be recycled in the single-stream recycling we have on campus. Signs will be going up in the Terrace, and most likely the Pub, to reflect this and to encourage students to recycle more.

Lastly, in the month of September, there were 29 buckets of compost brought to Fraser Farm for composting. Since each of the buckets holds 5 gallons, 145 gallons of organic materials were diverted to composting rather than going to a landfill this past month. While I have no data in terms of pounds per bucket, I guess that the average weight would be around 25 pounds per bucket (since I carry most of the buckets) that amounts to somewhere around 725 pounds of fruits and vegetable scraps that did not go to a landfill. That's something we can feel good about.

That’s it for now. Questions and comments appreciated!