UB is committed to protecting and enhancing the environment and
our surrounding communities through education, service and
administrative operations.
Campus Dining & Shops
Recycling plastic just became easier! Reverse vending machines,
placed in convenient campus locations, allow the campus community
to easily and immediately recycle plastic and receive deposit
refund vouchers on the spot.
Campus Dining & Shops received an "A" in food and recycling
on the 2011 College Sustainability Report Card.
904,270 Pounds (452 tons) of waste are eliminated from
landfills because of Campus Dining & Shops' composting and
recycling efforts.
Campus Dining & Shop' new state of the art food-waste
decomposer reduces compost and landfill waste by 90%.
50 gallons of water per minute are saved by Campus Dining &
Shops' "green" dish rooms.
UB's residential dining centers have gone trayless, reducing
food waste by 50% and saving thousands of gallons of water every
year.
14,000 Refillable mugs and 90,000 refills are sold by Campus
Dining & Shops each year.
The landfill space UB saves per year due to reusable mugs use
is equal to a stack of mattresses 18.5 feet high.
Hosting of Campus Dining & Shops' myubcard.com website is
100% wind powered.
Campus Living
UB Campus Living's textbook recycling program diverted 2.6 tons
of textbooks from the land fill in 2010.
Campus Living is committed to green building practices:
UB's Creekside Village Community Building was the region's
first LEED-certified green building.
William Greiner Hall (opening fall 2011) is designed to be LEED
Gold certified.
Campus Living uses green cleaning products and procedures.
In 2010, Campus Living conducted a study to find ways to reduce
energy use in the Ellicott complex.
Campus Living conducted an energy awareness program for
students and staff in 2010.
Career Services
UB Career Services provides workshops and counseling to help
students find green careers: ub-careers.buffalo.edu/green.php
In spring 2011, UB Career Services hosted their first "Virtual"
career fair.
New Student Programs
UB 101, a course for first-year students, offers green lesson
plan.
Off Campus Student Services
Because of a program implemented by UB's Off-Campus Student
Services office, University Heights residents increased recycling
bin usage by 50% in fall 2010.
Special Events
UB's Distinguished Speakers Series has hosted the following
environmental experts: Wangari Maathai, Jean-Michael Cousteau, Jane
Goodall, Sylvia Earle, J. Craig Venter, and Al Gore.
Parking & Transportation Services
49,590,124 pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of our
atmosphere every year due to UB Stampede ridership.
10,000 daily personal vehicle trips are avoided as a result of
UB Stampede and shuttle/ridership.
Five Zipcars remove 75-100 privately owned cars on campus.
300+ members of UB community are "Zipsters."
The number of campus resident vehicles has decreased by 25% in
five years, due to Transportation Demand Management (TDM)
initiatives.
UB Students Affairs partnered with UB Green to promote a
Commuter Challenge in fall 2010. Participation grew by 40% over the
previous year and 718 pounds of CO2 were reduced by members'
actions.
UB's Green commitment is reinforced at every Opening Weekend
and throughout September Welcome. In fact, 91% of students surveyed
said they learned about UB's green practices during these
events.
At Opening Weekend, 2,500 aluminum water bottles are given to
new students, to reinforce green behaviors at the start of their UB
experience. That's the equivalent of enough plastic bottles to
reach from UB's North to South campus 4.5 times!
275 students volunteered to beautify UB campuses at the 2010 UB
Pride and Service Day.
Student Wellness Team
Smoking is the world's greatest litter problem. 4.3 trillion
cigarette butts are littered per year.
UB is the first residential SUNY campus to institute a 100%
smoke-free policy, and the Student Wellness Team took the lead on
implementing UB's Smoke Free efforts.
Each month, the Student Wellness Team conducts a reuse drive,
collecting used items to donate to charitable groups in Western New
York.
Wellness Education Services provides composting stations at all
locations to compost tea bags, cups and bamboo stir sticks.
Student Health Services embarked on a South Campus
beautification project, a garden outside their Michael Hall
location. The garden has evolved into a community garden shared by
visiting students and staff within Michael Hall.
University Police
UB University Police's use of bicycle patrols saved 6,725 miles
of driving - equivalent to a trip from Paris to Seattle.
Using bike patrols instead of patrol cars saves 3.45 tons of
CO2 annually. It would take 17.25 trees to have the equivalent
positive effect.
UB Police installed a drug disposal dropoff on campus--says
Chief Schoenle, "Not only does this program help with the
prescription drug abuse problem, it is also in keeping with UB's
Green initiatives in keeping drugs out of our landfills and
waterways."
