Higher Education
Two mission-level drivers are clear today on university campuses:
- With pressure on endowments and budgets, colleges and universities are seeking innovative ways to transform operations for greater efficiency and lower cost.
- Students, alumni, donors and leaders throughout the institution are clamoring for more environmentally-sensitive and sustainable practices on campus that create a lower carbon footprint. These stakeholder voices are increasingly showing up as a key basis of differentiation and competition for students as they make matriculation decisions, aided by multiple organizations that now assess and rate the green practices of colleges and universities.
Sustainability leadership among peer institutions is highly desirable, but at what cost? Are budget realities and sustainability objectives inevitably in conflict?
A growing number of institutions worldwide are finding a dramatic win-win answer in an unlikely place: waste collection. While waste management practices may not intuitively appear at the top of brainstormed lists of cost-management ideas, ANY campus process that may yield 70%-80+% operating efficiencies through the application of innovative technologies and process changes is worthy of prioritized consideration.
Information-driven operating practices mean more efficient resource utilization and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The idea of displacing fossil fuel usage and wasteful labor practices through the use of renewable energy and information technology is enormously appealing. Students tend to “adopt” the BigBelly System on the ground. Solar-powered waste & recycling stations, distributed and visible across your campus, display a clear and obvious commitment to campus sustainability – and lead to direct bottom-line savings.
Spotlight case study: Georgetown University
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