The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) in Syracuse and St. Lawrence University in Canton will each use $5,000 in grant funding for recycling projects on their respective campuses. The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) and the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (NYSAR3) awarded the grants. […]
The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) in Syracuse and St. Lawrence University in Canton will each use $5,000 in grant funding for recycling projects on their respective campuses.
The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) and the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (NYSAR3) awarded the grants. The grants go to campuses that have projects that focus on source reduction, reuse, recycling,and pollution prevention.
NYSP2I is located at the Rochester Institute of Technology, while NYSAR3 is based in Albany.
Each year, NYSAR3 and NYSP2I provide two $5,000 awards to New York State universities and colleges who are members of the NYSAR3 College Council.
NYSP2I awarded a grant to SUNY ESF for its project titled, “SUNY ESF’s Path to Zero Waste: Integrated Indoor Compost System on a Rural College Campus.” At the same time, NYSAR3 provided funding for the St. Lawrence University project called“Approaching Economic Sustainability at the Barn Good Thrift Store”.
SUNY ESF
The SUNY ESF project involved installing an indoor composting system at its remote Ranger School in Wanakena in St. Lawrence County, which does not have centralized garbage pickup or composting infrastructure. The project will increase the ESF Ranger School’s organic waste diversion rate through formalizing an ongoing compost program, expanding agricultural opportunities on-campus, and engaging local communities with a model for successful end-to-end composting.
The composting system will prevent organic waste from going into the landfill and,instead, recycle it into usable material that will be used on campus as a soil amendment for future edible gardens, and to support current, established pollinator gardens and educational and experiential learning components for students. The project should be complete by the end of 2024.
St. Lawrence University
The St. Lawrence University student club, “Close the Loop,” has been managing the onsite campus thrift store “Barn Good” that is open to community members. The club will use the $5,000 award to pay for upgrades and make targeted purchases of equipment and supplies to bring the business to “economic sustainability,” per the announcement.
The goal of this proposal is to upgrade the thrift-store space to support upcyclingevents, reduce campus waste, increase re-use of clothing and other residential items, and provide low-cost retail items to students and the community.