RESOURCE EFFICENCY PROGRAM (REP)

2014–2015 Annual Report

Kelsey Grab, Residential Program Coordinator

• Vampire Energy Campaign• Move Out Energy Campaign• E-Waste Campaign• Canaday Weatherization

• Recycling Challenge• Freshmen Compost Program• Dish return and Red Plate Campaign• Basketball and Harvard/Yale Recycling• Water Stations Map• Waste Audit

• Minister Ramesh Meeting• Green Campus Tours• Arboretum Outing

• Green Fair• Green.Edu• Public Interested• Harvard Project Drying Racks• Green Cup/EAC Earth Day• Partnerships with SEAS, Psych• REP Professional Development

• Sustainability Guide to Harvard Square• Collaboration with UHS• Collaboration with EH&S• Cosmetics Drive

5,000+ STUDENTS ENGAGED

Date # of attendees EventSummer 2014 460 GreenEdu

Summer and Fall 2014 25 Green ToursFall 2014 709 Green Fair

Fall 2014 20 Minister Ramesh

Fall 2014 2292 Recycling Quiz

Winter 2014 1000+ Move Out Pledge

Spring 2015 50+ Harvard Project

Throughout the Year 600+ Study Break Attendees

ORIGINAL CONTENT and SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

Published content on green.harvard.edu:

Original stories: 19Tools and Resources: 4Original illustrations: 2The REP program also launched 1 new series, “Student Perspectives”

Website engagement:

Unique visitors for your top 10 most visitedpages totals: 4,475Average time on page for top 10 most visitedpages: 3 minutes, 48 seconds

Top 10 pages:1. REP2. Find your REP3. Apply to be a Rep4. Green.Edu (Quiz, resources for incoming freshman)5. Designing for change (Jterm story)6. Composting comes to Harvard Yard (story)7. Food waste down twenty percent in Yard (story)8. Bringing behavioral psychology to composting (story)9. Endangered (poem)10. Orientations go green (story)

REP provided 15 photos of the 80 photos posted by OFS to Instagram.

On average, OFS tweets 8-10 times a day. Generally, 1-2 tweets involve something about our programs, students, or research at FAS.

OFS posts once daily to Facebook. In an average month, REP is represented in 3-5 posts.

OFS sends a monthly newsletter to a list of ~9,000 students, staff, faculty, and members of the outside community.

REP is represented in each newsletter, with generally 2-3 stories, tools/resources, or shout outs.

Our work is guided by our stakeholders including OPRP, HUDS, Harvard Recycling and the Office for Sustainability.

Strong partnerships with the FDO, OSL, FLP, SEAS and others give our program the ability to engage with students in their homes and their classrooms.

THIS IS REP

The REP program employs 20 students across the college to engage their peers in education on a variety of sustainability initiatives.

EMISSIONS AND ENERGY REDUCTION

Our vampire energy campaign during Halloween educated students about energy use in every day items they often forget about. Students were encouraged to unplug electronics and use power strips to reduce energy consumption.

Students were reminded of this again as they prepared for move out and signed “The Pledge” to unplug electronics, turn off their lights and turn down their heat before leaving for Winter break.

Over 1,000 undergraduates sign energy reduction pledge.

The lightbulbs we give out each year save four tons of CO2.

New students learned on their first day at Harvard how to sort their waste through the recycling challenge. This challenge is also administered to summer school proctors, new residential proctors and PAFs.

On move in day 130+ students took our recycling challenge and 300+ students received LEDs

MOVE IN

FRESHMEN COMPOST

With the support of the Freshmen Dean’s Office, Yard Ops, OPRP and Harvard Recycling, the first ever residential composting program began, with each freshmen suite receiving a compost bin to dispose of their organic waste.

600 bins were distributed to each freshmen suite

57% of students polled at the end of the year use dorm compost in their room or kitchen

DISH RETURN

1700+ dishes recovered and $3,000+ saved for HUDS

70% of students reported the the red plate campaign made them think differently about dish return

With the support of HUDS and Quincy House, we launched the “Red Plate” campaign, informed by the finding of a collaborative research project by SEAS students. This campaign raised awareness and knowledge of plate theft and loss in the Houses.

WASTE AUDIT

With the support of Harvard recycling, our team completed a waste audit of trash from across the houses and dorms. The students learned more about how waste is dealt with on campus and identified trends of improper disposal to influence campaign materials.

The waste audit indicated a 20% reduction in compostable materials in the trash in the freshmen dorms.

RECYCLING @ ATHLETICS

With the support of Harvard recycling, and athletics, we have increased recycling rates at football, basketball and hockey game day challenges.

Diversion rate for the Game Day Challenge was 81.24%, third in the country!

We came in first in the Ivy division for diversion in the 6 week Recyclemania competition

WATER FILLING STATIONS

There are 12 water filling stations in Harvard Yard

With the help of Yard Ops, a REP created a comprehensive map of each station in the Yard. This resource is in freshmen dorms and will be hosted online by the FDO.

THE ARBORETUM OUTING

Five students went off campus to join REPs on a free Arboretum tour

We encourage our students to engage with the many natural resources and eco systems Harvard has, including the Forest and Arboretum.

GREEN TOURS

Students and parents were lead to see the many sustainable features of Harvard Yard, with an emphasis on our green landscaping efforts.

Four tours were given this year to students and parents.

SUSTAINABILITY AND FOOD

With the support of the UC, a REP developed a sustainability guide to Harvard Square- a resource for students to engage with sustainability beyond campus. This culminated in an event on the plaza to share sustainable food with the community.

At HUDS’ “New England Harvest Meal” REPs tabled with FLP Fellows to educate their peers on the value of eating locally and the many steps HUDS takes to support local agriculture.

Over 300 sustainability guides were distributed to students and staff.

HEALTH AND RECYCLING

500 pounds of cosmetics were sorted for a local homeless shelter which repurposed good and diverted waste from landfills.

In addition we campaigns to encourage proper e-waste recycling and outlined the many reasons it is important with an emphasis on the health concerns associated with e-waste.

GREEN EDU

For the first time ever, before setting foot on campus over 400 freshmen took the GreenEdu quiz, designed to educate them on compost and recycling on campus.

GREEN FAIR

Over 700 students attended the Green Fair

Our annual Green Fair introduces new students to the variety of sustainability student groups on campus and asks them to pledge to use a provided reusable mug wherever they go.

Twelve different sustainability groups were represented at the Fair

NATURE AND ECOSYSTEMS CONTENT

REPs, along with students from across the university, met with Minister Jairam Ramesh, a foremost scholar and political leader on environmental concerns in India.

MEETING WITH MINISTER RAMESH

19 Students engaged in a conversation about global climate change

CAMPUS OPERATIONSGREEN ’18 PROJECTS

Green ’18 partnered with Yard Operations to lead a “Weatherization of ” Canaday Hall through the upgrade of lighting and education of their peers for reducing their impact before winter move out.

Nearly 200 lightbulbs were changed in Canaday Hall to energy efficient LED’s, saving 8,395 kwh of electricity every year, and 5758 kg of CO2 due to student efforts.

Students from across the Yard came to learn about good winter move out practices and receive shower timers, LED light bulbs, reusable bags and sustainable laundry detergent.

GREEN CUP

The Green Cup, an inter-house sustainability competition, was especially exciting this year with four different houses receiving prizes for energy reduction, food waste reduction, HoCo activities, and exemplary participation.

97% of Lowell House participated in the recycling quiz

Adams House reduced energy use by 11%, Cabot by 9% and Pfoho by 7%.

Food waste reduced across the board, with Winthrop averaging just .72 ounces per student

PUBLIC INTERESTED

In partnership with the Phillips Brooks House, REPs and other students interested in sustainability were able to engage with Alums in the field during Public Interested this January.

300 students learned about opportunities to serve the community and work in sustainability

“THE HARVARD PROJECT”

With the support of the UC, a REP proposed drying racks in all student laundry rooms. Although the project did not win, it garnered great support and many students were reached. Over 1300 students voted for the Harvard Project.

50+ direct student interactions while tabling for competition

3000+ students reached through house and group lists

New partnerships with SEAS and the PSYCH department gave us new innovative designs for our programs

SEAS AND PYSCH PARTNERSHIPS

SEAS helped us analyze and uncover ways to improve dish return. PSYCH1508 helped to develop our compost program by using the decision making tool they studied in class, DDDT: Define, Diagnose, Design and Test.

Our students have learned more about sustainability from guest speakers including members of Bootstrap Compost, a psychology fellow and Professor McCarthy

STUDENT DEVELOPMENT

Students have been given new tools for success, including the implementation of work plans. This structured approach lead to improved independent project outcomes and measurable skill building.

STUDENT PERSPECTIVES

Our students have created stories, poems and artwork that have been featured in multiple stories on the Harvard website, highlighting their work and impact on the community.

19 Original Stories with nearly 5,000 views

FY16 GOALS

Maintaining our program to engage students around issues of energy, recycling, dishware and food waste.

Strengthening connections to other offices on campus including the FDO, OSL and student leadership training groups.

Improving the new composting program for freshmen with better educational materials and outreach.

Expanding on new programs like the “Red plate campaign.”

Reaching more students with events and programming.

Training and comprehensive leadership development for our student leaders.

Building ongoing relationships with SEAS and other academic departments.

This coming year we look forward to: