Waste Reduction
Purchasing Department – Construction team
The Purchasing Services Construction Team implemented a number of changes to their Bid Packages work procedures which have significantly reduced waste, helping UF get closer to its goal of zero waste. Historically, the Bid Package connected to these projects were printed out, 15 times, along with requests for additional print-outs from time to time. In addition to the resources being used, staff spent a considerable amount of time folding, labeling and then distributing these packets, and the fees associated with printing and delivery were all absorbed by Purchasing. If more interest was shown for a project after the pre-bid meeting, more documents were ordered and processed again by Purchasing Services, sometimes never being picked up and immediately becoming waste. The Purchasing Construction team – notably Lisa Pennington and Mercedes Bongiovanni – saw the potential to optimize this process – reducing waste, costs and increasing efficiency in staff time. These ladies were instrumental in moving the Bid package to electronic format, saving UF more than $474,000, and more than 54,000 lbs of paper. And by putting the Bid Packages on-line, interested parties are no longer wasting trips to Elmore Hall, causing a reduction in the intangible costs, such as gas and emissions of delivery/pickup, and staff time.
Student: UF Golden Key International Honor Society
Every fall our office coordinates the TailGator Green Team – Game Day Recycling program, working to divert waste during football season, but more importantly, directly engaging and involving fans to help expand the culture of sustainability that exists at UF. In fall 2010, volunteer efforts contributed to more than 50,000 lbs of cans and bottles being recycled. One student organization really went above and beyond in volunteering with this program, and we are extremely grateful for their dedication and enthusiasm in making it such a success. Members of UF Golden Key consistently volunteered each week, and some members did more than one shift on a single game day. It is through the commitment of students such as these, that such a tremendous impact on greening the Gator Nation can be made. Thanks to all our volunteers!
Water Conservation
UF EPA Center of Excellence for Watershed Management
Begun in 2007, the EPA Region 4 Centers of Excellence for Watershed Management Program works with colleges and universities from across the Southeast to provide hands-on, practical products and services for communities to identify watershed problems and solve them. Each EPA designated Center actively seeks out watershed-based stakeholder groups and local governments that need cost effective tools for watershed scientific studies, engineering designs and computer mapping, as well as assistance with legal issues, project management, public education and planning. Thanks to a group of dedicated UF staff and faculty, from the UF Water Institute, the Law School, the Program for Resource Efficient Communities, the Florid-Friendly Landscaping Program, Public Issues Education on Agriculture and Natural resources and many others, the University of Florida is now a designated EPA Center of Excellence for Watershed Management.
Student: Wetlands Club
The University of Florida (UF) Wetlands Club was founded in 1995 with the mission of increasing awareness of the many values provided by wetland ecosystems. These activities were focused towards the campus community and beyond. Throughout the 2010-2011 academic year, members of the UF Wetlands Club have been actively promoting this mission, and two areas of involvement that highlight their commitment are their involvement in environmental education and clean-up activities. They not only provided our office with numerous, experienced members to serve as volunteer site captains for our February campus cleanup, but have hosted numerous cleanups of their own (since 2004, the UF Wetlands Club has removed 11,894 pounds of trash and recyclables from Tumblin Creek), and led 6 interactive field-trip opportunities for local elementary and middle schools in fall of 2010. These students toured the Stormwater Ecological Enhancement Project (SEEP) wetland, a functional stormwater retention basin and a diverse wetland ecosystem, located within the Natural Areas Teaching Lab, expanding environmental education and awareness within the community. The club is also in the process of working with the Florida Museum of Natural History to educate museum visitors about SEEP by providing an updated brochure at the museum, and exploring the possibility of offering a modified SEEP tour to museum visitors.
Energy Conservation
Shands
In November 2009, Shands announced the opening of the Shands Cancer Hospital and its South Energy Center, an onsite power plant in partnership with Gainesville Regional Utilities. The state-of-the-art South Energy Center is one of a few combined heat and power plants in the Southeast capable of providing 100 percent of a hospital’s heating, cooling and medical gas needs, utilizes various smart technology and automation features that increase efficiency. The projected annual energy savings equal to the power needed to run more than 2,000 homes, and according to GRU’s most recent measurement, the hospital saved enough energy to power an additional 280 homes from November 2010 to February 2011.
Student: The 17th annual Public Interest Environmental Conference at the Levin College of Law
This year’s three day conference, “It’s Easy Being Green: Our Energy Future” focused on the urgent need to address the sources of energy that will sustain Florida, including renewable and non-renewable sources of energy, energy distribution and security, and its relationship to economic development, environmental protection, and social justice, as well as a special panel devoted to the Gulf oil spill almost one year ago. Panelists were a broad gathering of representatives of government agencies, public interest organizations, and industry, as well as internationally known scholars. This conference is organized by UF Law students, and continues to astound attendees year and year with its scope and subject matter. A thank you to those dedicated individuals who make the conference possible.
Academics: Graduate Student Prairie Project
Last August UF hosted thefirst Prairie Project, which brought faculty from 8 colleges across UF to network and foster interdisciplinary discussions while learingn about how to incorporate sustainability into the curriculum, and about how to be leaders for this sort of change on campus. We have already seen a number of great things from our fist cohort of fellows – one in particular, came up with the idea that we want to honor today – Victoria Pagan inspired a group of her peers to work with her on extending the mission of the Prairie Project to graduate students. She recognized that by sharing what she had learned with them would not only benefit UF but would also hopefully expand the reach to the many institutions where they will land as faculty. Victoria and several other fellows are currently working on this event, which will be held in May and will host 25 students from nine colleges that will learn about interdisciplinary teaching and incorporating sustainability into the educational experience for their students.
Engagement: College of Education Green Team
Green Team Captain Chris Cook hosted a number of events and programs over the past year that have not only reduced waste and given back to the community; they most importantly have been fun and engaging opportunities to get people involved in sustainability. She coordinated a collection drive of office and school supplies to donate to Alachua County Tools for Schools, hosted the second “Drop, Shop & Swap Recycled Fest” event that provided students, staff and faculty the chance to trade and repurpose home or office items. This past fall, the event was also open to all Green Teams to participate. And last summer she implemented an educational campaign focusing on cigarette butt waste to coordinate with UF going tobacco free, as well as hosting a litter cleanup of the Norman Hall area, in partnership with the College of Education Staff Council and the English Language Institute.
Student Academics and Engagement – Islam on Campus, “Green Deen” event
This spring as part of Islam Awareness Month, the student organization Islam on Campus brought author Ibrahim Abdul-Matin as a keynote speaker. Matin wrote, “Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet.” I hope other student organizations are inspired to see sustainability incorporated into existing programs in such a meaningful way.
Green Team of the Year – UF Libraries
The Smathers Green Team has gone above and beyond over the past year, coordinating efforts to green their own space, while also creating opportunities for other Green Teams and being involved in cross-department efforts for sustainability.
- Working with the Office of Sustainability and Student Government to place recycling bins throughout Libraries
- Purchasing interoffice envelopes and hosting a publicity campaign within the libraries to educate people on how to utilize these reusable envelopes, developed a successful proposal to their Dean to provide and require green tableware for all official employee recognition events.
- Coordinated a meeting open to other staff/faculty Green Teams to order these items together, providing a convenient way for other teams to get involved with this effort, while raising awareness on the importance of Green Teams to steward these types of initiatives.
- Doubled the size of the team by inviting student workers in the libraries.
- Working on a Libraries Green Team newsletter to help raise the profile of the Libraries Green Team, and providing valuable information on their initiatives, as well as noting tips, and other Sustainable UF opportunities and events
Student Organization of the Year – Agronomy and Soils Club
For their hard work to reclaim and restore a student resource that provides an opportunity for students to sustainably produce their own food and learn more about gardening – the student agriculture gardens by lake Alice. I think it is also symbolic of UFs commitment to its students to have such a resource in the heart of campus. Thanks to their work there are now over 60 active student garden plots in the garden.
