Styrofoam Collection

Four years ago, the Sustainability Office, Grounds, and Environmental Health & Safety collaborated to set up a quarterly Styrofoam Collection Program for labs and all other departments who may have high influxes of Styrofoam. Collectively, we have diverted 75-100 yards of Styrofoam since this collection program began. That's almost one football field of Styrofoam! 

If you or your lab have a Styrofoam waste stream, store it until Thursday, May 19th, 2016 (no longer May 5th), when the next Styrofoam collection day will take place.

A roll-off bin will be located at the Physical Science Building loading dock from 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM on 5/19/16 with volunteers ready to assist with drop-offs.

The Sustainability Office hopes that all labs will participate in the collection and recycling of our large Styrofoam waste stream.

Accepted Recycling:

• Styrofoam Peanuts and Styrofoam pieces smaller than one square foot must be bagged
• Tape and labels must be removed from Styrofoam
• Styrofoam used in shipping materials is accepted

 For any questions, please contact a Green Labs Associate at greenlabs-group[at]ucsc[dot]edu

Home Recycling: Personal Ways to Make Your Home Zero Waste

This post was written by Angela Duong, a member of the Zero Waste team within the Sustainability Office.

When it comes to recycling, most people commonly believe they know all the wonders of recycling correctly. Since I started working on the Zero Waste Team this year, I have gained a substantial amount of knowledge influencing my own waste decisions at home and on the go. A great way to begin this process of diverting your waste is to start at home!

 In one of my apartment’s pantry closets, I implemented a “home recycling center” with clear signage and extra bins to sort out clean containers, clean paper, trash, compost and cardboard recycling.

With this system, my housemates and whoever comes into my apartment discover the various items they believed were either recycling or trash to be opposite. When on the go, I always have my reusable water bottle and hand towels on hand. Incorporating a busy college Zero Waste lifestyle is not as hard as everyone makes it. Reusable water bottles, coffee cups, hand towels, utensils, straws are a few examples of items of items that go to waste easily. Living a Zero Waste lifestyle by decreasing the amount of waste we produce individually, we can significantly work towards zero waste.

May 2015 Green Tip: Sustainable Art

Do you have any old glass bottles or bottle caps? Would you rather repurpose products instead of recycling them? You can turn them into beautiful art pieces! Meesh Montgomery and Jacquelyne Vera, students at UCSC, do just that. With Mother's Day coming up, you can show your mom -and Mother Earth- how much you love her by making sustainable and recycled art.

Meesh makes flower vases, watering devices for their plants, and paper flowers. They use glass bottles, paper, and bottle caps that they find in recycling bins or laying around. They have always had a passion for art and when they started school here, they had a new passion: sustainability. So, they combined the two to make sustainable art.

Meesh says their favorite part of recycled art is how good they feel while making it. They say that, first of all, it relieves a lot of their stress. Second, they feel good being sustainable while doing something they love. They would love to delve more into larger sculptures using recycled materials, but they don't have enough space in their dorm room.

Jacquelyne makes jewelry/charms out of polymer clay and different pattern friendship bracelets. She uses any items she comes across as inspiration. She's currently learning how to make koi ponds and flower gardens in Altoid cans, pies in bottle caps, and terrariums in old light bulbs.

Jacquelyne says her favorite part of making things is how fun it is. She enjoys making things while watching random youtube videos and finds it relaxing. She likes seeing her friends' faces when she gives them the items.

Below are some of her amazing and adorable creations:

Humanities Green Team Gets Down and Dirty with Nessie

During the summer, Humanities Green team members worked on the UCSC recycling sort line, affectionately nicknamed "Nessie." The staff members separated recyclables (plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans), helping the university redeem valuable materials such as CRV (California Refund Value) as well as promoting and supporting the campus' zero waste goals. The Humanities Green Team is a group of staff, faculty, and students committed to reducing waste, improving sustainable practices, and helping UCSC reach zero waste by 2020. To contact the Humanities Green Team, direct your inquiries to HGT [at] ucsc [dot] edu.

So You Recycled, Now What?

A Photo Essay from Behind the Scenes of Waste at UCSC

All UC Campuses are committed to the goal of zero waste by 2020. Currently, at UC Santa Cruz, we have diverted about 64% of our waste from the landfill. This year, we also have the Chancellor's Challenge, which is focused on waste reduction in an effort to move forward with our 2020 goal. Many individuals, organizations, and also the Zero Waste Team  are constantly trying to reduce waste on our campus. This photo essay takes a look at what exactly is happening "behind the scenes" with our waste at UC Santa Cruz.