University of Washington, Seattle
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

RecycleMania is a national competition among universities to promote waste reduction and recycling activities. From February through March, colleges in the competition report recycling and trash weights collected weekly, and are then ranked in standing based on various categories. The University of Washington competes annually in the competition.

This campaign raises awareness among students about our campus-wide recycling and composting initiatives by pitting the UW in competition against other rival Pac-12 universities. The UW finished #18 overall among all schools in 2017, and #1 among Pac-12 schools.

The Green Dawgs Program at the University of Washington encourages registered student organizations (RSOs) to make their meetings, events, and member practices more sustainable. The program provides a framework for self-evaluation as well as resources to help student groups implement sustainable practices within their clubs. Anyone from an RSO can apply to receive a Green Dawg Certification, provided they or a member of the club knowingly volunteer to serve as that club’s Green Dawg Representative. Our brief online survey allows RSOs to recognize what steps their club is already taking to be green, and areas where there is room for improvement. Qualifying RSO’s will be recognized at different levels of certification based on the criteria they meet. https://green.uw.edu/green-dawgs

The Green Dawgs certification was able to predominately connect with groups that had no prior connection to sustainability. Of all participating clubs, 67 percent came from recreational or professional interests, spanning from the campus table tennis team to Greek life. These clubs are now set on a more sustainable path, with yearly check-ins put in place to encourage continued participation any improvement.

SCRAM UW Recycling’s annual Student Cleanup, Recycle and Moveout (SCRAM) event captures unwanted items from approximately 5,000 departing students who live in the residence halls. The goal of SCRAM is to divert reusable goods from the landfill and donate those items, such as food, books, clothing, household items, school supplies, and toiletries, to charitable organizations. At the end of the academic year, a donation station is set up at each residence hall to encourage donation and reuse. Each station includes instructional signs and collection containers to separate items. There is also space for donating large items like furniture and home theatre equipment. SCRAM tries to make moving out of the dorms a little easier. The program was featured on UWTV: http://uwtv.org/series/uw360/watch/74YMYrdAsgY/ UW Recycling Trash Talks UW Recycling hosts regular Trash Talks that provide recycling and compost education directly to the campus community. Past Trash Talks have been held in the main corridor of the HUB (the student union building) right by a waste collection station or at university apartment complexes. UW Recycling believes in engaging students at the source by using fun interactive games and prizes. Husky Neighborhood Clean-up: The Husky Neighborhood Clean-up is an annual program designed to mitigate excess items being left out of the street once the majority of students head home for the summer. An unfortunate amount of students don't know how to properly dispose of couches (and the like) that they no longer need, and so they end up left on the curb for local sanitation workers to deal with. The clean up specifically targets students who live in neighborhoods north of campus dorms, who aren't able to access the SCRAM program offered by Housing and Food Services. MEASURED POSITIVE IMPACTS SCRAM The program has been in place since 2004 and has helped keep over 125 tons of material out of the landfill towards donation and reuse instead. Husky Neighborhood Clean Up This program has helped in keeping U-District streets clean and safe for bikers as well as vehicles.