GREEN NEWS

Sustainability Team Cleans Up

Over a few short years, Sac State’s sustainability team has marshaled the forces of the University community to intensify its outreach efforts. From a handful of volunteers early on, recent events indicate the growing participation of students, faculty and staff in community efforts, such as the Great American River Clean Up, hosted by the American River Parkway Foundation.

As Volunteer Steward for Mile 7 South of the American River, which runs alongside the campus, the sustainability team was an active participant, joined by a contingent from Housing and Residential Life, which assumed duties as site-captain for the Guy West Bridge location. This year was incredibly successful: "along with other volunteers from the community, Sac State Hornets helped to gather up over 17,000 pounds of trash, litter, and garbage from the American River Parkway," said Joey Martinez, University sustainability coordinator.

Sac State sustainability is always looking to provide opportunities for students to act sustainably, but this event has the added bonus of being a significant community event as well. By participating, students are able become better neighbors to the rest of our community." The sustainability team’s goal for this year, beyond the regular clean-up duties was to "to create awareness amongst our student population of opportunities to engage in sustainable activities," said Martinez. So this year was a success for the program as well as the American River Parkway Foundation and the community. The success is particularly significant for  the University because, not only is the parkway one of our region’s most precious resources, but the river serves as an identifying symbol of Sacramento State.

The event established approximately a dozen designated locations along the coast of the American River for volunteers to beautify. Beautification included removing litter, trash and, in some cases, invasive species of plants that are detrimental to local plant life.

New Compost Project Diverts Food Waste

This fall marks the beginninig of a noteworthy waste-reduction effort at Sac State, as the sustainability team partners with Dining Commons to divert 100 percent of its food waste. Through the Organic Compost Project, the waste will be provided to third party vendors, Republic Services and Clean World, where it will be converted to clean burning gas. "The more Sac State can act to eliminate waste in-house, the less we have to ship elsewhere - reducing our environmental impact and saving money in the process," said Recycling Coordinator Joey Martinez.

The Dining Commons was determined by the project team as, logistically, the ideal place to start. "Next steps will investigate opportunities in other campus eateries," said Martinez. "These new efforts will help find more sustainable options for our post-consumer waste."

The goal is eventually to become a zero waste campus. While we aren't there yet, we have taken many steps to get there. "Our progress thus far has given us the opportunity to start thinking long term in ways that we never have done before," concluded Martinez. "As sustainable technologies advance, it is clear that we'll have the opportunity to close more and more loops."