TGIF Mini-Grant Application Fall 2013
Total amount requested must be from $500-2,000. Submissions must be submitted in PDF or
Word format with minimum 12 pt. font and 1” margins and be no more than 5 pages in length.
Your application must be submitted by 5pm on October 7, 2013 OR November 18, 2013. Please
title your document “MG_ProjectName_YourLastName”.
Project title: Stop Waste in Sororities
Total amount requested from TGIF: $1,103.32
Amount Requested as:
Grant
Loan (Estimated payback period of loan in ___ months)
Sponsoring Organization/Fiscal Agent: Greening the Greeks
This will be the entity that holds your grant funds and administers all financial transactions and
student intern hires. This entity must submit a Project Approval Form.
Project leader(s):
Name
Year & Major/
Title & Department
Phone
Email
Emily McKeon
Senior, Environmental Science
(813) 380-0413
egmckeon@berkeley.edu
Name
Year & Major/
Title & Department
Phone
Email
Project Details:
Describe the overall goals of the project.
The goal of this project is to provide the social sorority houses of UC Berkeley with a
necessary amount of bins in order to maximize their houses’ waste diversion. Currently many of
the houses have a random assortment of bins and are lacking the quantity needed to fully
furnish their house. Composting and recycling is gradually becoming embedded in the culture
of living in the sorority house and this project would allow waste diversion to become a
standard practice. Another goal of this project is to measure the changing waste diversion rates
in the houses over time after the bins purchased from this project were implemented. UC
Berkeley’s Greek system is one of the only Greek systems in the nation that is working to be
more sustainable and this project would help achieve that goal.
How will the project be implemented? Describe the steps.
Each sorority has requested the exact type and quantity of bins that their house is
lacking. The bins would be purchased by Greening the Greeks through Grainger and distributed
to their respective houses along with appropriate bin signage. Signage would be ordered with
the help of Campus Recycling and Refuse Services to promote uniformity of information. The
bins and signs would be implemented in each of the houses. Waste audits will be done
periodically in each of the houses receiving bins to measure the change in waste diversion rate
(waste diverted from the landfill to compost or recycling). This change will quantify the
effectiveness of the bins and the signage. The sustainability chairs for each of the sororities will
also provide feedback to the Panhellenic VP of Sustainability. This feedback will include
opinions of the other women of the chapter, how well people are using the bins, commons
items that are disposed of improperly, etc.
Which aspects or campus sustainability will your project tackle? What are the quantitative
and/or qualitative sustainability metrics?
This project will tackle the poor waste management in the Greek system, more
specifically, the sorority houses. In waste audits of landfill bins conducted at the sororities in
the past, there have been high levels of contamination. Essentially, the landfill has been
composed of over 50% compostable or recyclable materials. This project will aim to help
improve the bin infrastructure and uniformity amongst the houses in the hopes of decreasing
landfill contamination and increasing waste diversion. This project will be monitored with
quantitative metrics. Waste audits will be done at the houses with the new bins and signage
installed and those values will be compared to the baseline data collected prior to the project
implementation. Qualitative metrics will also be collected in the form of feedback from the
sustainability chairs and the opinions of the women of the chapters on the new bins and their
personal/collective waste management behavior.
How will you measure the sustainability and environmental benefits?
The benefits will be measured in terms of the change in waste diversion before project
implementation and afterwards. Waste audits have been done in the sorority houses during the
Fall 2013 semester so baseline data already exists. After the project implementation, another
round of waste audits will occur and the results will be compared. The composition of the
landfill bin prior to the project will be compared to the composition afterwards. For the project
to be beneficial, the proportions of compostables and recyclables in the landfill should be lower
than the baseline values. This means that this waste is being diverted in a more sustainable way
than it previously was.
What is your plan for publicizing your project? Do you have any specific outreach goals?
The roll out of these bins to the sorority houses will be part of a Greening the Greeks
education event. We will hold an educational seminar for all those receiving bins and those who
are interested to thoroughly educate them on proper usage. This event will be heavily
advertised in order to reach the widest audience. One of the main issues for improper waste
management is lack of education since the bins are essentially useless if they are not used
properly. Also, the distribution of high quality and clear signage will act as a form of outreach.
These signs will match the campus standard promoting uniformity and recognition.
Project Approvals Needed:
If your project team is partnering with other organizations, or departments, or needs
permission to undertake a specific project, please submit a completed Project Approval Form
for each named entity.
Budget:
List all budget items for which funding is being requested under the appropriate category.
Include cost/item and total amount/item requested. Please be as detailed as possible.
Item
Cost per
Item
Quantity
Total
Request
Rubbermaid Compost Slim Jim Bin
Rubbermaid Landfill Slim Jim Bin
Rubbermaid Recycle Slim Jim Bin
Rubbermaid Desk side Mixed Paper Bin
Rubbermaid Desk side Landfill Bin
Publicity and Communication
$30.84
$30.84
$30.84
$3.65
$8.00
15
5
8
12
2
$462.60
$154.20
$246.72
$43.80
$16.00
Laminated Bin Signage
$2.00
40
$80.00
$100.00
1
$100.00
Equipment and Construction Costs
Personnel and Wages
N/A
General Supplies and Other
Grainger Shipping
TOTAL $1103.32
If selected by TGIF, your project must be completed by December 12, 2014.
Please email completed abstracts to tgif_grants@berkeley.edu and put the name of your
project in the subject line. Please title your document “MG_ProjectName_YourLastName”.
Questions and comments may be directed to TGIF Coordinator, Katherine Walsh, at
tgif_info@berkeley.edu /510-643-2992.