October marks Campus Sustainability Month for universities across America. To celebrate sustainability in higher education, the Office of Sustainability, in collaboration with the Eco-Reps, is hosting Campus Sustainability Day on October 26. This day will feature a waste audit of Dravo residence hall. The Office of Sustainability will work alongside Eco-Reps to conduct this live waste audit, which is an effective way of measuring how much trash and recycling are collected on a given day. Students will sort through one day’s worth of trash and recycling of Dravo and proceed to calculate how much trash and recycling were generated, what percentage of recyclables were correctly recycled, what percentage were thrown away incorrectly, and how much contamination there was in the recycling. Eco-Reps can then apply this data to further educate their peers and, in particular, the residents of Dravo about what is considered trash and recycling so that they can improve their waste audit results. They will be conducting a follow up waste audit in the spring to see how much the students in Dravo residence hall can improve!
Be sure to check out the live waste audit on Campus Sustainability Day on October 26 on the UC Front Lawn from 12-1pm. Stay connected with other events to make Lehigh a more sustainable place to live, study, and work!