University of Massachusetts Lowell
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

The university has supported the Lowell Earth Day Celebration since 2015. We now have a rich network of over 100 community partner organizations and institutions that established an annual collaborative, city-wide, month-long celebration of the arts, nature and sustainability. Local businesses, community groups, cultural and artistic organizations, public schools, the community college and the University all play integral roles in programming every year.

This event is targeted at students and creates new, educational opportunities that would not otherwise be available. Departments work to bring in speakers for on-campus events to highlight major sustainability challenges or themes. In addition, community events that may be missed by students and provide new student education and engagement with non-profits that would not exist without the event.

Additional information is available at the following:
https://www.uml.edu/office-sustainability/Events/Lowell-Earth-Day.aspx

We now have a diverse network of over 100 community partners. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Earth Day event was virtual in 2020 and 2021. Despite the challenge, the 2020 event offered community educational presentations on biodiversity, climate action, and electric vehicles. The diverse array of collective programming would not be available to students if this collaborative celebration did not occur. The calendar of events is available at the following location:

https://www.umassmed.edu/globalassets/growing-green/files/umassearthweekcalendar041620.pdf

Fall & Spring Into Recycling is the Office of Sustainability's premiere recycling outreach program. At no cost to community members, we allow UMass Lowell to bring recyclables to the university on two days each semester. We focus on hard to manage materials like electronics, white goods, and confidential documents.

A full list of accepted materials are:

Secure shredding and recycling services are available for:

- Confidential Paper Documents: Tax documents, receipts, mailings, anything with confidential or personally identifiable information
- Hard drives
- Handheld Devices: Cellphones, Tablets, MP3 players and PDAs
- All electronic devices with hard drives or personal information on them (Laptops and CPUs) are recyclable and will be handled securely

Responsible recycling services are available for the following:
- Computing Equipment and Accessories: Any handheld devices, laptops, CPUs, monitors, keyboards, mice, cords, and wires
- Audio Visual Equipment: Any sound systems, projectors, microphones
- Appliances: Radios, Air Conditioners, Microwaves, Refrigerators, Stoves, Washer/Dryers
- Televisions: Any CRT Tube and Flat-Screen TVs
- Batteries: Any style or size, including car batteries, lithium ion or rechargables
- Ink & Toner Cartridges: Any style or size
- Light fixtures & Bulbs: Any style

This event is heavily focused on faculty and staff because it really supports those individuals who have established residences and need to sustainably dispose of household materials that accumulate over the years.

Fall and Spring Into Recycling annually recycles around 70,000 pounds of goods from the UMass Lowell Community in the 4 days the event is run each year. These items would not have been recycled without UML's efforts through these campaigns.

Engagement with a wide cross-section of the university community allows the Office of Sustainability to reach staff members for new engagement with programs and best practices. In addition, the event has fostered a fantastic collaboration with the Information Technology: Information Security team that helps advance the university's sustainability goals through new approaches to responsible recycling of e-waste, among other initiatives.