University of Colorado Boulder

The CU Environmental Center is the nation's largest and most accomplished student-led center of its kind. By translating student leadership into action and engaging the campus community, the Center helps CU-Boulder to become a global leader in sustainability.The Environmental Center was established in 1970 by the students who organized the first Earth Day at CU. It has grown to be the largest student run environmental center in the country and a model to many others. Thirteen permanent staff support the work of the student board, volunteers, and student employees. This section of our website further explores who we are and what we do at the 'E-Center.' 

History

• 1970 Eco-Center is founded, which later becomes the Environmental Center

• 1973 Students vote to fund the Eco-Center with student fees

• 1976 CU Recycling is founded as UCSU allocates student fees to support recycling

• 1980's Steve Smith, the first full-time, non-student director of the E-Center is hired. Student involvement increases by 400 percent.

• 1984 Jack DeBell becomes the first professional Director of CU Recycling

• 1989 E-Center conference on global issues draws 1,000 attendees

• 1991 The Bus Pass Program begins

• 1991 The Memorandum of Understanding between the Boulder Campus Administration and UCSU is singed, creating the Student- Administration Partnership for Recycling

• 1992 The Intermediate Processing Facility (IPF) opens

• 1992 Will Toor is hired as director of the Environmental Center

• 1994 The First annual Campus Earth Summit

• 1994 CU buys more recycled paper than virgin paper for the first time

• 1995 CU Recycling surpasses 1,000 tons of recycled materials in one year

• 2000 The Blueprint for a Green Campus is issued

• 2000 A four-year Recycling capital expansion begins

• 2000 UCSU purchases wind power via referendum

• 2001 The Campus Master Plan is revised to include the first formal guidelines for recycling

• 2001 Generation Green energy education campaign begins

• 2001 Campus energy use decreases for first time in more than 10 years

• 2001 Clean energy conference

• 2002 CU receives $55,000 from the EPA and $32,000 from UCSU to site a composting operation on campus

• 2002 Environmental Center moves into a new office, UMC expansion is complete with green building features

• 2002 CU Biodiesel is formed

• 2003 Vice Chancellors release internal business review confirming recycling provides net annual savings of $235,000.

• 2003 Recycling business plan is reviewed, Recycling Financial Advisory Board is created

• 2003 First annual Bioneers in Boulder event takes place

• 2004 UCSU wind purchase increases to 100%

• 2004 A consultant waste composition study finds 1,300 tons of recyclables remain unrecovered annually

• 2004 Chancellor Byyny issues the UCB Campus Environmental Policy

• 2004 The first solar panels are installed on the UMC

• 2004 UCSU Energy efficiency fund is established

• 2004 The CU Bike Station opens, and new bicycle programs are initiated

• 2004 Next bus displays are installed

• 2005 A permanent Bike Station is installed

• 2005 Sustainable CU Referendum passes

• 2005 CUSG passes a Capital Construction Fee requiring that buildings funded from this fee (Wolf Law, ATLAS, Koelbel Business) achieve LEED Gold rating

• 2005 CU hosts and produces the Colorado Sustainability Summit

• 2005 CU competes in Recyclemania

• 2005 Global Jam becomes CU's first ever Zero Waste event

• 2006 Dave Newport is hired as Environmental Center director

• 2006 Blueprint for a Green Campus is updated and reissued

• 2007 Chancellor Peterson signs the American College and University President's Climate Committment (ACUPCC)

• 2007 CU becomes a founding member of the Colorado Renewable Energy Laboratory

• 2007 CU Student Government becomes the first entity to pledge carbon neutrality for all CUSG-run buildings

• 2007 CU Boulder's recycling collection exceeds 2,000 tons (four million pounds)

• 2007 The Live Green Pledge is launched campus-wide

• 2007 Rocky Mountain Sustainability Summit

• 2008 CUSG requires all student-funded food/dining events to be Zero Waste; CU Dining Services eliminates plastic bags from the grab-and-go meals and distrubes free reusable bags to all incoming residence students

• 2008 The CU Athletics Department commits to Zero Waste football games and launches Ralphie’s Green Stampede

• 2008 The Earth Education program initiates Teach for Sustainability, a service-learning course.

• 2008 CU launches an aggressive three-year conservation campaign as part of the Greening the Government Executive Orders to reduce energy, paper, water, and petroleum use and to transition to a Zero Waste campus

• 2009 CU is ranked the nation's #1 Eco-friendly college by the Sierra Club

• 2009 CU places first in Recyclemania

• 2009 The first campus Clean Energy Day is held

• 2009 CU launches a custom Zimride rideshare transportation community

• 2009 CU issues a Conceptual Plan for Carbon Neutrality

• 2010 CU Recycling converts campus recycling to dual-stream

• 2010 SCORE, a student-run energy assessment program for the Boulder rental community, is created

• 2011 CU recieve's the nation's first STARS Gold rating for environmental leadership

• 2011 Sustainable Practices program is transferred to the E-Center from Continuing Education

• 2012 A Senior Transportation Fellow posiiton is created to support the campus and community vision for an advanced transportation system

• 2012 CUSG buildings reach carbon neutrality in keeping with the goal set in 2009

• 2013 CU Boulder fully implements healthy and pesticide-free turf management.

• 2013 The new School of the Environment and Sustainability is approved. Planning begins for a 2016 opening.

• 2014 CU Boulder renews its STARS Gold Sustainability rating and increases its score.

• 2015 The new Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Complex (SEEC) research, education and engagement facility is set to open on East Campus.

• 2015 CU Boulder Athletics attains carbon neutrality and announces a 'Net-Zero Electricity' practive facility at Folsom Field.

• 2015 A new on campus Recycling Operations Center opens, designed to increase landfill diversion rate and reach 90% diversion goal.

• 2015 The Environmental Center celebrates its 45th birthday.

Benefits of the Dual Stream collection system include:

• Consolidation of the types of recycling bins to 2 main grades (Containers and Papers)
• A larger variety of plastics collected in the “Containers” grade (#1-#7 plastic bottles, tubs, and jars)
• Larger amounts of paper accepted in all “Papers” bins (any type of paper fiber)
• Increased ability to recycle low grade papers (magazines, phonebooks, paperboard)
• Increased ability to recycle all “Papers” in the desk side recycling bins
• Maintaining high quality paper fibers by keeping the containers separate

Shredding Service

CU Recycling is scaling back the shredding services we offer, partially as a result of the relocation of the campus recycling facility. It is not possible to shred onsite or store materials for destruction at our temporary location.CU Recycling will offer a biweekly route to pick up small quantities of materials for destruction (up to six boxes per department), store them securely at the CU Distribution Center, and have them destroyed by a shredding company.

Construction and Demolition Recycling

Reusing and recycling construction and demolition (C&D) materials in Colorado have come a long way in the past decade.  This practice can cut overall project expenses by:

• avoiding disposal and purchasing costs,

• generating revenue from materials sold,

• creating opportunities for tax breaks through material donations.

Other benefits include conserving landfill space, reducing and avoiding the environmental effects of manufacturing new building products, and enhancing your company's public image.Many projects at CU and in the region are recovering a majority of materials but there is room to improve. Colorado, Boulder County, the city of Boulder and the university support C&D recycling and building codes emphasizing reuse and recycling.