With the City of Seattle’s new compost ordinance in effect, UW Recycling is, more than ever, a pivotal waste diversion resource on campus.

As of January 1, Seattle prohibits food waste from garbage destined for the landfill. The University of Washington is dedicated to waste reduction, and composting and recycling at the University is designed to be visible, convenient and to maximize the recovery of waste. UW Recycling's MiniMax program, the desk-side, self-service waste collection system, supports UW’s...

The UW Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration teamed up with the UW Carpentry Fabrication Shop to transform a dead cedar tree on campus into a bench where the UW community can enjoy the surroundings of the restored forest.

The Washington State Recycling Association has scholarships available for student who would like to attend the organization's annual conference and trade show. This year the conference is in Spokane on May 17-20. The deadline to apply is Monday, March 23 at 5 p.m.

All undergraduate and graduate students who are currently enrolled or who graduated in the last year are eligible to apply. The scholarships include all registration and lodging costs, allowing students to attend educational sessions, workshops, exhibits, tours of recycling facilities, social events, meals...

It's a slow week for events on campus as UW concentrates on finals, but there are still a handful of sustainability talks and meetings happening. And if you're looking to get outside and work off any lingering finals stress, the UW Farm is still holding volunteer hours.

All of these events and more are listed on our Sustainability Events calendar, where you can find the full details for all events and any last-minute additions. If you'd like to get a weekly email of all the upcoming sustainability events, subscribe to our newsletter....

Each spring, students in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences take advantage of a unique opportunity to help shape the University of Washington's Pack Forest.

Read the article from the Seattle Times

We are excited to share that UW Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability is now UW Sustainability! We updated our name to help us make better connections with the UW community while keeping sustainability as the focal point of our name and consistent with the University’s sustainability brand, “Sustainability: It's in our nature.”

We continue to promote sustainability across the University of Washington by engaging, connecting and informing members of the UW community. Our office provides sustainability resources for students, faculty and staff. We work to encourage...

This post was originally published in the UW Green Labs newsletter.

Reducing your lab's energy use

With regular maintenance, you can significantly increase the efficiency and the lifespan of your lab’s freezer or fridge. In fact, regular maintenance of your ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezer can save your lab up to $280 per year in energy costs.

One important part of freezer and fridge maintenance is cleaning the condenser coils and filters. Over time, these accumulate dust and dirt, which reduce both air flow through the filters and the coils’ ability to...

"In order to divert the majority of people, you have to make it second nature for them." - Cameron McCallum

The Physics Instrument Shop has been a certified Green Laboratory since June 2013. Run by about seven people, the shop handles nearly all the purchasing and machining for UW's physics department. Although the shop deals exclusively with materials, it is incredibly waste efficient. Purchases are always made in bulk and leftover materials are recycled or stocked for later use. Additionally, the shop processes surplus items for the...

Lab workers put in long hours in the search for data and answers, so when the Green Laboratory Certification program wanted to reward participants, coffee was a natural choice.

The Green Labs program has been delivering responsibly-grown and locally-roasted coffee from UW Husky Grind to all the labs that participated in the program in 2014 to recognize and thank them for the extra effort they've put into making their labs green.

Campus laboratories are an important area of...