Sustainable Action Fund Ideas with potential sponsors and advisors
Idea
Department
Sponsored
Advisors
Notes
Large Grant: UV Sanitation at the Rec Center
Wade King Recreation
Center
Adam Leonard & Pete
Lockhart
The staff are considering this technology for the 2013-2014
academic year. Will need 2-4 students to apply for grant and
make it happen.
Large Grant: High Speed Hand Dryer for
Restroom
Wade King Recreation
Center
Adam Leonard & Pete
Lockhart
Staff would like to reduce paper towel usage
Large Grant: Quieter, less water drainage high
speed hand dryer for Parks Hall
Business and
Economics
Check with Craig Dunn
Parks hall staff have noticed that there is a large stock room of
paper towels, just for drying hands. They would like to
eliminate the need for all of this paper by trying a new high
speed hand dryer. Will need 2-4 students to apply for grant
and make it happen.
Large Grant: Rainwater harvesting in ES
Basement (west side).
Facilities Management
idea
Plumbing shop?
Replumb nearby high capacity restrooms to flush the toilets.
Large Grant: More LED site/road lighting
Facilities Management
idea
Facilities Management
Staff
Large Grant: More LED lights in dorms
Facilities Management
idea
Residence Life Staff
Large Grant: LARGE solar array on Parks Hall
roof. Support student research from 2008
Facilities Management
idea
Need to find one
Small or Large depending on scale: Leaking
faucets
Biology
Jeannie Gilbert
The biology building has specialized faucets that are not aging
well, many of them leak, particularly when used but some leak
frequently. The water loss is unnecessary and would add up over
a year’s time. Unknown whether they need to be replaced or
repaired.
Sustainable Action Fund Ideas with potential sponsors and advisors
Idea
Small Grant: University wide Styrofoam
recycling
Department
Sponsored
Biology
Advisors
Kendra Bradford
Small Grant: University wide uniform
recycling signage
Biology
Kendra Bradford
Small Grant: biodegradable laboratory plastics
Biology
Kendra Bradford, Mark
Price
Small Grant: motion sensor lights in bio
building lecture halls
Biology
Peter Thut
Small Grant: Biophylia Design
Western Library
Learning Commons
Shevell Thibou and David
Hamiter
Notes
Biology department received many packages in Styrofoam boxes.
Last year we had a pilot program with AS recycling to collect
Styrofoam where we got rid of lots of Styrofoam, that program
was unfortunately not continued. UW has a Styrofoam recycling
program with a private company. When they were contacted
they expressed interest in finding a partner in Bellingham to
service this area. This project would be to explore the feasibility
of having Styrofoam recycling at WWU.
Different WWU buildings and departments have their own
signage for recycling. Students, who use multiple buildings, find
the different systems confusing and leads to incorrect usage of
the recycling containers. This project would be to see if there
could be campus wide uniformity of signage.
The biology staff has been approached by multiple companies
that claim to sell biodegradable laboratory plastics. This project
would be to investigate the accuracy of biodegradable plastics for
Bellingham's landfill system.
The biology building's two lecture halls often have their lights on
all the time, even during the summer when there is very low
usage in those rooms. There are many lights (40?) that use
100wt(?) bulbs. This project would be to see if there was a way
to have the lecture halls on motion sensors to reduce electrical
usage.
Connecting humans with natures is shown again and again to
increase human health and productivity. Biophylia Design is the
act of integrating natural elements into our study/work/living
space.
We are looking for 2-4 students who want to pilot a Biophylia
Design study at Western. No location has been identified, but we
will need the project team to identify similar or nearby control
and experimental locations so an appropriate study can be
conducted.
Idea provided by: Gene Meyers, Huxley College of the
Environment
Sustainable Action Fund Ideas with potential sponsors and advisors
Idea
Small or Large Grant: Composting in residence
hall kitchenettes
Large Grant: Sustainability and Interlocking
Concrete Pavements
Large Grant: Replacing Wade King Rec center
hand dryers
Department
Sponsored
-
Outdoor Maintenance
at Facilities
Management
Biology
Advisors
Need to find one
Gary Hodge
Kendra Bradford
Small or Large Grant: 100% Compostable
coffee cup lids with instructions
-
Carol Berry
Small Grant: Tutoring Center Team: Western
Waste Education Center
-
Carol Berry
-
Carol Berry
Small or Large Grant: Western Waste
management system Video
Notes
Students have identified the need to have small compost
collection units in the kitchenettes of residence halls. A group
working on this project would need to identify a pilot location,
research the logistics, and acquire permission to conduct
composting in the pilot residence hall location(s).
Western’s Outdoor Maintenance Supervisor is interested in
trying out Sustainability and Interlocking Concrete Pavements
http://www.icpi.org/sustainable
We would get much less runoff environmentally, and we reduce
the impermeable surface area of WWU, which may help our
storm water charges from the city.
The hand dryers in the women's changing room (I presume
men's too) at the Wade King Rec Center do not turn off and
go for a really long time. People often press it multiple time
to try to turn it off since is seems like it is stuck on. Would be
great to have one that either have sensors or can be turned
off.
Problem: plastic cup lids in the compost stream
Solution:
Replace all the plastic hot cup lids with compostable lids
Replace all the assorted paper cups and coordinate buying
of paper cups so they all have custom graphics, engaging
users and providing instruction for disposal
o Participatory, action-based learning
o Info wall, 5 -part waste sorting station, monitor
o WWU & Whatcom County Virtual waste system
tour
o "A day in the life of a bin of trash" Trash Tracking
Sustainable Action Fund Ideas with potential sponsors and advisors
Idea
Department
Sponsored
Advisors
Notes
o
Large Grant: Haggard Hall Zero Waste
Experience
-
Carol Berry
o
Problem: Freshman first experience ( English 101)
occurs in a building with inadequate waste sorting
options - missing an opportunity to orient new
students to the fact that waste matters, and their
everyday actions make a difference.
Classroom signage
Sorting facilities on each floor of the building
Possible instructor connection, needs on-going
ownership by English Department as well as
custodial department
Social: everyone has a role, waste doesn’t
disappear - the problem of privilege? Learning in a
laboratory for sustainability.
(emptying the trash in the ivory tower?)
o
o
o
o
o
o
Participatory learning
Global, social, local
Film festival
Panel discussion
Hands-on Re-use & re-make fair
Vendors & demonstrations
o
Actual WWU/Whatcom waste system tour for up
to 50 people
Potential stops: SSC, AS Recycle Center, Whatcom
Transfer Station, Re Store, Green Earth
Technologies, Roosevelt landfill
Include overnight stay (?) - and speakers/guides re
social, environmental, economic implications
related to Whatcom County waste.
o
o
o
o
Small Grant: Toward Zero Waste Expo
Carol Berry
o
Small or Large Grant: Understanding what
Western tosses:
-
Carol Berry
o
Sustainable Action Fund Ideas with potential sponsors and advisors
Idea
Small Grant: Zero Waste Ad spot
Department
Sponsored
-
Advisors
Carol Berry
Notes
Test effectiveness of messages, including focus on waste
reduction, before waste sorting.
 1 toddler, intent on sorting toy - shapes go in
appropriate holes
 2 closer look, toddler is putting pieces of trash into
the correct holes
 3 - pull back into child sitting in the middle of a sea
of garbage
Question/messages;
 Did you buy this just to throw it away –
 like throwing money in the dump
 Responsible buying, responsible disposal


Large Grant: Solar Fiber Optic Lighting
Facilities Management
Scott Dorough

Large: Solar array picnic tables
Need to find one


Perfect application of solar. (Why limit solar
technology to hot water heating and electrical
energy production?)
Windows are the biggest losers in any building…the
single biggest energy user by far that require huge
HVAC systems to counter their energy losses. Using
very, very limited energy sucking apertures
[windows] in buildings and bringing in natural and
artificial lighting through efficient means like light
tubes and fiber optics, and OLED displays
connected to low-energy building cameras. i.e.,
Windowless buildings with an efficient contiguous
thermal envelope.
Construct picnic tables with umbrellas in Red
Square
Umbrellas to be topped with solar arrays
Create multipurpose seating that will generate
electricity to power either the tables or nearby
energy using objects and create a covered seating
option for rain and sun
Sustainable Action Fund Ideas with potential sponsors and advisors
Idea
Department
Sponsored
Advisors
Notes


Small or Large: On-campus shoe repair and
recycle
Need to find one


Small: Paperless Music School
School of Music
Need to find one


Small: Donation Bins on Campus
Need to find one


Small or Large: Greenhouse thermal
composting
Outback and Facilities
Management
Need to find one


Small or Large: Rain barrels around campus
Facilities Management
Need to find one

On campus show repair station can reduce travel to
a downtown cobbler, stimulate local craftsman
economy
Will cut down on the number of shoes that are
thrown away when they could be repaired, saving
materials use and labor elsewhere
Good on-campus opportunity for apprenticeship
and stimulation of economic sustainability
discussions
Currently the music school burns through a large
amount of paper for all the sheet music printing
Reduce paper, ink, and printer energy use by
creating more electric options for music school,
such as tablets available for checkout
Recycle materials by adding donation bins around
campus, especially near the residence halls
Open a wide discussion of materials use and
socially, economically, and environmentally
responsible consumption
Composting causes an exothermic reaction, which
can generate enough heat to warm a greenhouse
year-round
Reduce energy consumption and learn about
symbiotic ecology by creating a naturally cyclical
process of plant growth and decay
Use rain barrels as waster catchment system that
can be reused on dorms and around campus
Greywater can be used to supplement existing
water use for toilets in many structures
Sustainable Action Fund Ideas with potential sponsors and advisors
Idea
Department
Sponsored
Advisors
Notes

Large: Pervious parking lots
Facilities Management
(Urban planning or
engineering for
design)
Need to find one



Small: Water Bottle Refill Station in Red
Square
Facilities Management
Need to find one


Small: Dish Drive and Library
Need to find one


Small: Reduce paper towel usage
Possibly Rec Center
Need to find one, possibly
Katey Roemmele


Large: Off the grid tiny home on wheels
Woodring and Huxley
colleges, possibly
Wendelin Dunlap



Small or Large: Green Wall
Need to find one


Several parking lots on and around campus are
impervious or gravel surfaces. Impervious concrete
promotes run-off, heat islands, and pollution, while
gravel parking lots are dusty, can be difficult to
walk through, and prone to creating potholes (and
not preferred by student or staff)
Create a pilot version of a pervious parking lot
(possibly with green structure to reduce dust) over
either a gravel or a paved lot
Measure water quality in the water basin off the
south end of campus
Though the refill stations are common practice,
there isn’t a convenient refill station in Red Square,
especially on the exterior of one of the buildings
Make the stations conveniently located and highly
visible to promote their use
Create a library of cooking tools and utensils
available for checkout for students
Promote at-home cooking and communal tool use
Campaign and possible installation of means to
reduce paper towel usage.
Can be posters/signs, different dispensers that
dispense sheets instead of rolls, hand dryers,
especially in recreation facilities
Creation of 200-250 sq ft demo homes with
composting toilet, gray water system, solar power,
and roof garden
Would involve many student groups and majors to do
in-house work
Usually cost $15K-30K and could act as a teach tool
on this and other campuses
Retrofit concrete wall to support growing of plants,
possibly edible
Could reduce urban heat island effect and conserve
potable water
Could use efforts pioneered in UW Green Futures Lab
Sustainable Action Fund Ideas with potential sponsors and advisors
Idea
Department
Sponsored
Advisors
Notes

Small Grant: Terra Cycle Collections on
Campus
Need to find one

Terra Cycle Collection Bins are for hard-to-recycle
items like tooth paste tubes and cereal bags
System already established by Terra Cycle:
https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/


Small or Large Grant: Free Store
Graduation student Aline
Prata

When students can’t move items or don’t want them,
they often get left out for pickup or thrown away,
which leads to waste and potential health hazards
Create a free store on campus that allows for the free
exchange of items in a controlled, healthy
environment
Allegheny College in Meadville, PA solved this
problem by providing a room in the environmental
studies building where students and faculty could
leave things that they didn't want anymore, such as
furniture, kitchen supplies, clothes and even a bike