Transcript Waste Paper Reduction Efforts

Compliance and Best
Practices Subcommittee
4/22/2004
“Initiatives for making a better tomorrow”
Mission Statement

The mission of the Compliance and Best Practices
Committee is to examine initiatives that impact
day to day operations at the University.
Initiatives
After considering 47 possible projects, the
Committee selected as its initiatives the areas of:
 Waste paper reduction;
 Climate change – Greenhouse Gases (GHG)
emissions reductions; and
 Water conservation
Waste Paper Reduction

Goal: quantify average weekly waste paper
volume and implement measures to reduce that
volume by at least 10-20% versus the average
volume for the comparable week in 2003.
Current Efforts

To promote the conversion of paper forms to an
electronic format and replace hard copy submittals
with electronic filing requirements, the Waste
Paper Reduction Workgroup met with UITS to
discuss options available which would allow more
University wide forms to be submitted
electronically. UITS is currently working on a
system to authenticate electronic signatures. Once
completed, this topic will be revisited.
 The Purchasing Department printed its last paper
copy of the Husky Buyer in March of 2004. All
future issues will be available on-line. This is a
savings of $4,064 annually.

Under the new stationery contract with Advanced
Printing, 90% of all stationery orders are now
processed directly on-line. Between September
of 2003 and March of 2004, this contract has
allowed the University to recognize a $138,100
cost savings by promoting on-line ordering.
Invoices are also being sent as a flat file directly to
Accounts Payable for payment, allowing for an
almost non-existent paper system.
 Fisher Scientific, the University’s Scientific
product supplier, has 59% of its orders placed online. Training continues in this area, so this
number is expected to increase.

The Museum of Natural History & Archaeology
Center will now be providing information
pertaining to their summer programs on-line.
 Under the current contract with Boise Cascade,
our contracted office supply vendor, 58% of the
office supply orders are placed on line. This
number continues to increase as departments are
trained how to order on-line.
 The copy center at the Library has moved its
biggest mediated service to scanning and uses
discarded copies for draft printing/scrap paper,
thereby reducing their paper usage by 30%.
Action Plan

Determine waste awareness on campus through a
recycling survey.
 Promote double-sided copying by placing EcoHusky logos on all copiers on campus.
 Develop a program to authenticate electronic
signatures.
 Promote the use of electronic communications so
as to reduce printed materials.
Climate Change – Greenhouse
Gas Emissions Reduction (GHG)

Goal: become a signatory to the State of
Connecticut’s Climate Change Action Plan and a
partner with the New England-based nongovernmental organization, Clean Air-Cool Planet.
Current Efforts
Construction has begun on UConn’s natural gasfired Co-Gen Facility. This will reduce
greenhouse gas emissions considerably.
 Using donated CA-CP software, Tami
Cruickshank has been able to create a GHG
emissions inventory for the main campus.
Preliminary estimates show that UConn emits
approximately 120,000 Metric Tons Carbon
Dioxide Equivalent per year, and at least 90% of
those emissions come from electricity, heating and
cooling.


During the upcoming summer, a Chemical
Engineering student will research the use of biodiesel on campus. The University currently has
3,000-4,000 gallons of waste (vegetable oil) a
year. This waste could potentially be mixed with
diesel to create bio-diesel which, if used to run
half of the University’s bus fleet would reduce
emissions by 2.4%. If all buses ran on B-20 in the
future, emissions could be reduced by 15%.
 Exploring options to reduce energy consumption
of office equipment.
Action Plan
• Develop bio-diesel for an alternative fuel
use on campus.
• Implement a sleep software program that
will shut computers down after a period of
time. The use of this software will reduce
energy used by 65%. The estimated global
potential savings is $800,000 a year in
energy saved.
Water Conservation

Goal: Implement a best management practice or
demonstration project that results in water usage
reduction of 10% during the next year in the
areas of research/academic laboratories, facilities
maintenance, grounds maintenance, animal
science and personal use (students, faculty and
staff).
Current Efforts

Dining Services is preparing an inventory of
current kitchen equipment which will be measured
for water usage.
 A waterless urinal was donated to the University
and has been installed in Facilities. It will be
tested for a period of one month to measure the
reduction in water usage.
 Recently installed 522 Maytag Neptune, high
efficiency – front load washing machines on
campus. Use 15-18 gallons per load, compared to
the 30-32 with top loader machines. Based on the
2002 actual usage with top load washers, the
University will save more than 2,600,000 gallons
of water annually with the front load machines.

Installation of sub-metering in buildings has
begun on campus. They will be used to
monitor areas for extreme usage/waste.
 Upgrade of current watering system used
for the chicken coops to install a closed
loop system which will provide recycling of
flowing water to prevent waste.
Action Plan
 Installed or portable flow meters will be used to
test water flow in the following areas:
– Dining Facilities: Towers, McMahon, South
Dining Hall, and Whitney;
– Academic/Research Buildings: Chemistry,
Math/Science, new School of Business, and the
Young Building.
– Residence Halls: South Campus Dorms A,
North Campus Residence Halls, Greek Housing
Community, and Buckley Residence Halls.
– Athletics: pool usage, showers, and laundry
facilities;
– Animal/Farm Sciences: chicken coops, dairy
barns, and the greenhouse.
A test period will be set up to perform a water
meter reading in the Spring, and again in the
fall. The reading will be done under the same
conditions on both days. This will assist in
determining how much water is used and/or
wasted.