Start Date: August 2019 | Finish Date: June 2020
Description:
The purpose of this project is to increase waste diversion rates at UC Irvine through providing more composting infrastructure and promoting composting education. After receiving a The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) grant and successfully doing so at the Paul Merage School of Business, we felt this was a logical next step. While we don’t believe composting alone will save the planet, its daily contribution to waste reduction and environmental awareness is a step in the right direction. Specifically, our goal was to work with UCI Facilities Management to bring compost bins to sections along Ring Road with high foot and food traffic. In the Green would provide the funding for the project via a The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) grant, and UCI Facilities Management would handle the installation and maintenance.We teamed with ASUCI Internal VP Daniela Romero and ASUCI Garden Commissioner Alex Lou to send a campus-wide survey on our project to gain student support (necessary for a TGIF grant). We felt attaching an infographic of the survey results to our TGIF application would only strengthen it (and it was accepted). Being awarded the $10,804.91, we then worked with Facilities Management Sustainability Program Manager Anne Krieghoff to order the 5 BigBelly compost bins, review signage, and schedule install dates. The bins along with their signage were installed May 12, 2020.
In the Green at UCI 