The ASCP would not be able to make such an impact without the help and involvement of all our campus friends and partners. We would like to highlight some of the amazing things that these individuals have accomplished in conjunction with the ASCP. Please check out some of these cool people and initiatives!

The ASCP hosted the first AHEC Staff and Employee electronic waste and recycling event! Through this event we were able to collect over 10,000 pounds of electronic waste including materials such as laptops, TV's, audio/visual equipment, printers, ink cartridges, and much more. Thanks to our partners BlueStar Recyclers, all of this waste was diverted and repurposed or recycled. Remember, if you have your own electronics to get rid of, you can recycle them by dropping them in one of our two receptacles on campus, located in the Tivoli and the Arts building.

The Auraria Campus was proud to host five Stanley Cup Finals Watch Parties as our home team, the Colorado Avalanche, went head-to-head with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Each event saw 6,000 to 18,000 attendees on the Tivoli quad. ASCP staff and volunteers worked tirelessly to make these events as green as possible by managing and sorting waste produced from the food trucks and drink vendors. Before the event, staff and volunteers set up receptacles to collect landfill, compost, aluminum, and general recycling. During the event they top-sorted waste by correctly placing waste in its respective bin. After each event, our sustainability team collected and sorted all of the waste. In total, across the five watch parties, over 8,000 pounds of waste were collected and 75.25% of this waste diverted from the landfill! This is a huge accomplishment that greatly helped the overall campus diversion rate and lessened the environmental impact of the watch parties. We would especially like to thank the Custodial, Grounds, Events, Facilities teams; this was truly a collaborative effort. Special thanks to key players like Sherrie Saur and our very own spectacular, Rylee McCone. This would not have been possible without the countless hours of hard work from our staff and volunteers, thank you to our Waste Diversion Champions for making it happen!

Grass is better for the environment than artificial grass like AstroTurf. Artificial grass produces greenhouse gas emissions, containments, and microplastics. Artificial turf leaches heavy metals into the soil and organic contaminants pollute soil and groundwater. (Cheng et al. 2014). Grass, on the other hand, breaks down pollutants and chemicals safely in the soil (National Park Service, 2018). Artificial turf also contributes 55.6 tonnes of CO2e over its 10-year lifespan. Comparatively, natural grass contributes −16.9 tonnes of CO2e in the same amount of time (Cheng et al. 2014). Grass serves as a carbon sink, absorbing carbon throughout its growth. Throughout its lifespan, artificial turf breaks down into microplastics that pollute soil (Cheng et al. 2014). Further, artificial turf contributes to the heat island effect that makes cities warmer than the surrounding environment. Artificial turf is found to have a maximum ground temperature of 22.6°C higher than natural grass (Yaghoobian et al. 2010). Finally, artificial turf is made from plastic that is difficult to recycle, it usually ends up in the landfill. If artificial turf is not recycled after its life, its total greenhouse gas emissions will double (Cheng et al. 2014). Overall, considering the impact of artificial turf on increasing pollutants, greenhouse gas emissions, and high temperatures in cities, natural grass is found to be better for the environment.  

 

 

 

 

 

We will be returning in the Fall, in-person, with our Workshop Series!

To learn more and sign up, visit our workshops page!