University of Washington, Seattle
ER-2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign

Trash-In In 1970, UW students held the first “Trash-In” on campus to emphasize the waste associated with American life. They collected trash from around campus and separated it into categories, returning recyclable materials to the original producers for reprocessing. Today, the UW Trash-In aims to increase student awareness about how much recyclable or compostable material is still being thrown away on campus. Trash is collected from several areas on campus and is sorted to determine how much could have been recycled or composted. Since the trash in was brought back in 2010, the audit is performed yearly by volunteers, primarily students, and the percentage of waste stream that should not be landfilled is measured. http://www.washington.edu/facilities/building/recyclingandsolidwaste/about/program-facts The OneThing Challenge The One Thing Challenge is an annual competition between residence hall students at the University of Washington (UW) and Washington State University (WSU) to win the title of "Greenest Campus". The campus with the most participants is awarded the One Thing Cup (a trophy made of recycled material). The One Thing Challenge is a personal commitment to change one thing in your normal routine in order to be more environmentally friendly. By committing to One Thing, you're not radically changing your life. However, that One Thing can lead to other One Things, and you'll find that there are many things you can do to save energy, water and fuel to reduce your impact on the environment. http://www.hfs.washington.edu/onething/ Trash Talkers "Trash Talkers" is an ongoing campaign in which members of the student group "SEED" explain to students what can be composted, recycled, and trashed in at the receptacle area during mealtimes. http://students.washington.edu/uwseed/about/ These Come From Trees The UW Earth Club student group worked with UW administration and the facilities department to place 3,000 "These Come From Trees" stickers around campus on paper towel dispensers, aiming to raise awareness about waste and reducing usage of natural resources. http://dailyuw.com/news/2010/oct/22/sticking-it-out/ UW Smart Residence Halls, Energy Challenge: This challenge is an energy consumer engagement experiment that will enlist UW student residents of Poplar and Elm Halls. It will involve high-tech personal energy management dashboards, floor by floor energy use displays, smart plugs, web-based education tools, social media, and conservation competitions with the goal to reduce energy waste in the two campus residence halls, and to determine the cost benefit of energy use behavior modification programs.

Trash-In This campaign not only raises awareness among students as to the amount of improvement that can still be made, but also measures changes from the previous year. In 2011, 28% of our waste stream was actually waste, while 51% could have been composted and 21% could have been recycled. In 2012, 29% of our waste stream was actually waste, while 51% could have been composted and 20% could have been recycled. The OneThing Challenge Students commit to doing actions that can save energy, water and fuel all while reducing their impact on the environment. Trash Talkers This campaign yields higher waste diversion rates in the dining halls where the campaign is enacted. These Come From Trees This campaign reduces the amount of paper towels used on campus. UW Smart Residence Halls, Energy Challenge: This campaign will reduce the amount of energy used in the residence halls.