Indicator 3: Begin a funded program that explores how "closed-loop" initiatives can be developed on campus and in the local community
The short-term objectives for achieving this vision are:
- Reduce paper use across campus.
- Increase the percentage of paper that we recycle.
- Identify options regarding cardboard usage and waste.
- Reconsider implementing paper charges for students in computer labs.
- Identify and implement alternatives to paper announcements and flyers sent to individual staff members.
- Address and evaluate the possibility of using more recycled paper in offices and computer labs.
Long-term objectives are:
- Reduce amount of waste disposed.
- Compost paper waste.
Many of these objectives can only be achieved with the education of the Behrend community.
Some of the education issues are:
- Get students to buy into using less paper.
- Explore disincentives for creating waste.
- Educate students about trash in public areas of campus (using proper receptacles, etc.).
- Re-educate about alternatives to paper copies and paper drafts.
- Educate offices about duplex printing.
- Behrend’s engineering programs can also be involved in waste reduction by designing closed-loop systems (where all materials used in manufacturing are used somewhere else), instead of the many current linear systems in place now.
- Outreach programs can also help by fostering connections between businesses that can provide “food” for each other.