Last week was CONNECT Week, a week of fun and educational events that help our new students transition into OSU’s community. Campus Recycling, the Sustainability Office and the Student Sustainability Initiative took several steps to demonstrate OSU’s sustainable reputation and get students involved.
All three groups were present with booths and activities at the New Student Picnic on Sept 21, attended by over 2,000 new students. In addition to chatting up students about campus sustainability, the picnic was used an an opportunity to show students that OSU recycles. The meal served by OSU Catering was 100% recyclable and compostable and UHDS RAs volunteered their time to staff 5 recycling stations around the event. 2,100 meals were served and even more people attended, but the event only generated 23 lbs of trash and diverted 574 lbs!
We also organized our 2nd Annual Sustainability Fair on Sept 23, where 18 OSU and community groups provided info to students about how to get involved in sustainability, and students were invited to check out the Student Sustainability Center. What fun!
Lastly, Campus Recycling and UHDS coordinated residence hall recycling while students moved into their new rooms. This involved our normal process of servicing the halls more often than usual, and also coordinating our first ever Styrofoam recycling program. We were pleased to collect 120 cubic yards in only 6 days – equal to 20 standard dumpsters – filling a 53′ truck trailer 3/4 full! The material will be recycled by Total Reclaim in Portland.
We are looking forward to continuing our outreach efforts into the school year!
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