By Eco-Rep Jon DelaBruere ’15 image from USFWS For my environmental policy class I recently attended a conference at ECHO for the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act here in Burlington, VT. Through a number of different panels, we heard about and discussed Vermont’s endangered species and how they are recovering, but a changing […]
Continue readingAs we reported back in 2012, we were making great strides in reducing the amount of copy paper used on campus. Fast forward to 2014 and the story is even stronger. How are we getting there? We continue to shift from desktop printers to shared multifunction printers, which reduce cost from 1 penny per page […]
Continue readingIt’s early in winter and yet we’ve had a plethora of ice, rain, and everything in between, which prompted this question from a concerned faculty member. Q. What’s with all the “salt” we are putting on the walkways and parking lots? Can’t be good for the lake. A. I know, and it’s something that […]
Continue readingSummary of Bottled Water Reduction/Restriction at Champlain College
December 2013
Summary: Over the past year, there has been significant effort in educating the Champlain College community about the various issues with bottled water (including, but not limited to, privatization of a public resource, access and equity, waste in production and disposal, etc.) as well as adding the physical resources necessary to create an environment where access to free, safe drinking water is easy for all. In April 2013, the campus community was surveyed to see if they would support removing the sale and use of regular, un-flavored bottled water on campus and this was overwhelming supported by those that responded. In June 2013, Champlain switched from solely working with Coca Cola as our beverage vendor to being an open source campus where any retailer can work with any provider. At the time of the switch, the vendors were informed that we were likely to stop the sale of bottled water on campus as of January 1, 2014. Continue reading
Most people do not know that trash is nearly FOUR TIMES more expensive than recycling. It is also TWO TIMES more expensive than composting. So why not compost and recycle the rightful items in our multitude of wonderful waste receptacles around campus? Our goal is that our trash is 100% TRASH. Not compost, not recycling, but all trash so that all other waste can be put in the appropriate containers. Continue reading
Each year we step back and look at our copy paper usage – just one of many metrics that we monitor. Last year (Fiscal Year 2013), thanks to the combined efforts of a) shifting from desk top printers to combined, multifunction devices, b) purchasing preferred recycled content copy paper, and c) faculty/student usage of Angel […]
Continue readingOver the past several weeks there have been a lot of large events on and around campus: students moving out of res hall room and apartments downtown, two commencements, all employee meetings, and the like. Over the course of these past weeks I’ve often found myself positioned directly in front of trash, recycling, and/or compost […]
Continue readingQ. Dear Champlain College, I am the Community Recycling Officer for Croydon Council in South London, UK, and I came across your ‘Sort it out’ recycling pages educating and explaining recycling to your students, and found it to be of particular interest. We are considering running a campaign aimed at householders within the borough to […]
Continue readingIt’s time to sign up for your Spring Semester Student Share! The share begins the week of January 23rd and runs through the week of April 30th. The sign up period will close January 9th, 2012. Receive delicious, fresh local food delivered weekly to campus throughout the semester. The pick-up spot will be Aiken Hall […]
Continue readingDid you know that the mailroom spends almost $50 every other week (or $1,300 a year) mailing out paychecks to faculty, staff, and students? And that’s just the postage! There’s the printing of checks and envelopes and the staff time to process them. But there is an easy to reduce this number: by signing up […]
Continue reading