Case Studies
Introduction
AASHE’s case study library contains hundreds of detailed case studies on a wide variety of higher education sustainability initiatives from faculty development programs to whole campus energy retrofits to community partnerships. All case studies are entered in the annual AASHE Awards Program.
At a Glance
Total Resources
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Bars in graphs can be clicked to view resources that align with a particular category. Because a resource may be listed under multiple topics and disciplines, graph data may include higher total counts than what is indicated in total resources above.
New Resources
UW–Madison Receipt Reduction Project
- University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)
Over a span of two years, teams of students, faculty, and staff at the University of Wisconsin–Madison eliminated mandatory receipt printing at campus dining centers, restaurants, markets, and cafes ...
- Posted June 10, 2016
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Bagging the Disposable Plastic Bag
- Case Western Reserve University (OH)
- Bon Appétit Management Company
The Student Sustainability Council at Case Western Reserve University removed disposable plastic bags from campus dining locations and replaced them with reusable bags.
- Posted June 10, 2016
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Brown's- A California Cafe
- University of California, Berkeley (CA)
This August, Cal Dining opened brown’s- a california café. By design, over 80% of the ingredients used are sourced locally from within 250 miles of the UC Berkeley campus ...
- Posted June 10, 2016
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The Learning Garden at Virginia Commonwealth University
- Virginia Commonwealth University (VA)
Virginia Commonwealth University's Office of Sustainability has created a new, urban, Learning Garden that produces fruits and vegetables exclusively for donation. The garden was created in response to a ...
- Posted June 10, 2016
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CPS Café – Sustainable Food Service Operation
- University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI)
The CPS Café is an eatery operated mainly by students across campus and is a unique food service business open to the public. It is a program within the College ...
- Posted June 9, 2016
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Sustainable Carolina Farm and Garden Hydroponics
- University of South Carolina (SC)
Sustainable Carolina is a student run organization within the University of South Carolina, working to better our campus by making it more sustainable. We work with students, staff, professors, and ...
- Posted June 6, 2016
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Unifying Campus Efforts in Pursuit of Green Restaurant Certification at UC Irvine's East Food Court
- University of California, Irvine (CA)
UC Irvine's East Food Court became a Certified Green Restaurant on November 5, 2015 and upgraded its certification from 2-Star to 3-Star on April 22, 2016 through significant interdepartmental ...
- Posted June 6, 2016
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Boston University Zero Waste Commencement
- Aramark (PA)
Boston University is a private research institution located in Boston, Massachusetts with approximately 33,000 undergradate and graduate students. During Commencement week, Boston University Dining Services/Aramark serves more than ...
- Posted June 6, 2016
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UNT Community Garden
- University of North Texas (TX)
University of North Texas' first on-campus community garden is in the final stages of planning, with construction begining this fall, in a vacant lot next to the Legends hall, just ...
- Posted June 3, 2016
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Black Hills Food Hub
- Black Hills State University (SD)
Black Hills State University (BHSU) and Spearfish community partners are seeking to create a culture that supports and values local food in order to expand the reach and depth of ...
- Posted June 3, 2016
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Smokey's Pantry: A FISH Hospitality Pantry
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)
Erica Davis, a senior at the University of Tennessee, spearheaded a food recovery project called Smokey’s Pantry. This project provided groceries recovered from various sources and distributed them to ...
- Posted June 2, 2016
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The Real Food Challenge at Lehigh University
- Lehigh University (PA)
The Real Food Challenge (RFC) is a national student run campaign to encourage campuses to increase the ratio of food purchased from “conventional” to “real food”. At Lehigh, the Office ...
- Posted June 2, 2016
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Campus greenhouse for local and sustainable tropical food production and education at Bellairs Research Institute
- McGill University (QC)
The Bellairs facility is located at Folkestone, Barbados. It hosts many students and scientists from McGill and around the world for field courses, workshops and research projects. This project's ...
- Posted June 2, 2016
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Leading by Collaboration: Institutional composting on a non-residential campus
- Johnson County Community College (KS)
JCCC's composting initiatives have changed operational practices and enriched campus culture in many ways. Those directly involved in our composting work are passionate about reducing food waste, handling it ...
- Posted June 1, 2016
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Gaucho Certified Farmers Market
- University of California, Santa Barbara (CA)
In the Fall of 2014, myself and a group of 5 other faculty members founded the first ever successful farmers market on the UC Santa Barbara campus.
The project was ...
- Posted June 1, 2016
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UIC Heritage Garden
- University of Illinois Chicago (IL)
The Heritage Garden at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is a hands-on learning project with an internship program where students work with faculty, staff, and community members to ...
- Posted May 31, 2016
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NC State University Students Leverage Partnerships To Eliminate Plastic Bags on Campus
- North Carolina State University (NC)
Over a three-year period, the NC State Stewards collaborated with the university’s Campus Enterprises division to move toward the elimination of single-use plastic bags in the most wasteful locations ...
- Posted May 31, 2016
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University of Redlands Proposal for Expanded Composting
- University of Redlands (CA)
We are currently living in a time with inequity, economic instability and environmental degradation. The University of Redlands campus claims to be sustainable, however, we lack many forms of renewable ...
- Posted May 23, 2016
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North D Compost Pilot
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)
- Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MA)
After conducting a waste audit of the North Apartment Residential Complex in October of 2014, it was found that approximately 27% of the trash stream consisted of food waste and ...
- Posted April 6, 2016
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RIT FoodShare
- Rochester Institute of Technology (NY)
RIT FoodShare is an initiative designed to reduce food waste on campus while reducing food insecurity among RIT students. It consists of two components - a facebook group and a FoodShare ...
- Posted June 12, 2015
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Addressing Food Insecurity at Portland Community College-Rock Creek Campus
- Portland Community College (OR)
Our campus community faces food and nutritional challenges like much of the nation. Portland Community College's Rock Creek Campus, with 50% of the student population receiving financial aid, chose ...
- Posted June 11, 2015
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UNT Health Science Center Community Garden: Connecting Health and Wellness to Sustainability
- University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth (TX)
The University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) is a graduate school of health care professions with over 2,100 students. The UNTHSC Community Garden broke ground in early ...
- Posted June 11, 2015
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Green Captain Program
- University of California, Irvine (CA)
- Aramark (PA)
The Green Captain Program allows UCI Hospitality & Dining student employees who are passionate about sustainability to design and implement practices to reduce environmental impacts (e.g. carbon footprint, water ...
- Posted June 11, 2015
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Feasibility study of implementing an aerated static compost system for food waste in University of Hawaii at Manoa housing
- University of Hawaii at Manoa (HI)
There are no facilities on Oahu capable of converting the post-consumer food waste generated by the University of Hawaii into compost. This is an inquiry into the feasibility of implementing ...
- Posted June 11, 2015
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Incorporating Life Cycle Analysis into Campus Dining
- University of Missouri (MO)
This study provides the greenhouse gas (GHG) estimates for thirty-nine meals using menu items served at the University of Missouri's Campus Dining Services. Meal size was normalized to 400 ...
- Posted June 11, 2015
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Collaborations for growing the Virginia Tech Farm to Campus Program
- Virginia Tech (VA)
The Virginia Tech Dining Services Farm at Kentland began as a small 1/2 acre herb garden in 2009. Since, the garden has expanded steadily to include more than 6 ...
- Posted June 10, 2015
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Starting a Food Recovery Network chapter at Colorado Mountain College-- Steamboat Springs
- Colorado Mountain College (CO)
This is an action oriented research and case study project that originated from the Capstone course of the Sustainability program at Colorado Mountain College (CMC). The study examines the process ...
- Posted June 10, 2015
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Tribe Truck Farm
- College of William & Mary (VA)
Tribe Truck Farm is a micro-farm in the bed of a pickup truck. The main goal of this project is to initiate a dialogue within the William and Mary community ...
- Posted June 4, 2015
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UA Compost Cats: Students Creating Community Partnerships to Turn Garbage into Gardens and Foster Local Food Security
- University of Arizona (AZ)
Located 60 miles from the largest, landlocked port for food in North America, the student-run Compost Cats program has now forged partnerships with the City of Tucson, San Xavier Co-op ...
- Posted April 12, 2014
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Aquaponic food production as an integrating context for campus sustainability
- Allegheny College (PA)
The Food for Sustainability project at Allegheny College utilizes aquaponic systems for indoor, year round tilapia and lettuce production. The products are sold to Parkhurst Dining Services and are incorporated ...
- Posted April 11, 2014
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Envisioning Sustainability: Implementing a Campus Community Food System at Virginia Tech
- Virginia Tech (VA)
Virginia Tech, founded in 1872 as a land grant institution, has not lost its local roots. With a nationally recognized college of Agriculture & Life Sciences, the campus has its ...
- Posted April 10, 2014
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GreenHouse Food Buying Club
- University of Vermont (VT)
- Sodexo USA (MD)
A student initiated program that allows on-campus students from a specific Residential Learning Community (RLC) to use a portion of their mandated meal plans to purchase a "CSA". The "CSA ...
- Posted March 28, 2014
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UCI Zero Waste Food Court Pilot Program
- University of California, Irvine (CA)
The University of California, Irvine launched a pilot program for post-consumer waste diversion in retail dining in 2013. The program achieved Zero Waste under the University of California Office of ...
- Posted March 28, 2014
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Students for Environmental Sustainability
- Kennesaw State University (GA)
The project is a student lead initiative aimed at improving culinary sustainability education and practices among students in both universities and k-12 institutions. The project has three primary focuses on ...
- Posted March 8, 2014
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Food Scraps Recovery at Kean University
- Kean University (NJ)
Kean University began a comprehensive on-campus food scraps composting project in January 2010. Food scraps are processed in an in-vessel composting system that requires just five days to convert them ...
- Posted May 14, 2013
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Sustainable Urban Eco-Garden at St. Louis Community College
- St. Louis Community College (MO)
St. Louis Community College, Florissant Valley campus, has created an educational, sustainable eco-garden that provides opportunities for participants to engage in raising food as well as providing native habitat for ...
- Posted May 10, 2013
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Sustainable Packaging at the University of Florida
- University of Florida (FL)
Gator Dining Services-ARAMARK at the University of Florida eliminated foam containers from campus dining operations, making UF the only ARAMARK foam- free dining operation in the south region. Foam products ...
- Posted May 10, 2013
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Foam Free Dining at the University of Florida
- University of Florida (FL)
- Aramark (PA)
Gator Dining Services at the University of Florida (UF) eliminated foam containers from campus dining operations, making the University of Florida the only ARAMARK foam- free dining operation in the ...
- Posted July 2, 2012
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WE Over ME Farm
- Paul Quinn College (TX)
Surrounded by a food desert, Paul Quinn College has assumed the responsibility to provide the residents of Highland Hills/southern Dallas within the zip code of 75241, access to healthy ...
- Posted July 2, 2012
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Public-Private Food Waste Composting Program
- Illinois State University (IL)
- Rochester Institute of Technology (NY)
The goal of this project was to provide a viable option for businesses and institutions to divert their food waste from the solid waste stream. McLean County is a prime ...
- Posted June 26, 2012
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Owens Community College HARVEST Project
- Owens Community College (OH)
The Owens Community College Harvest Project seeks to "Help all People Reap the Value of Education through Service and working Together." Our on campus food pantry and community garden serve ...
- Posted June 22, 2012
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Growing a Local and Sustainable Food System at Appalachian State University
- Appalachian State University (NC)
Appalachian Food Services is working with the Office of Sustainability to incorporate local and sustainably produced food products into our campus dining with an overall goal of improving the campus ...
- Posted June 10, 2011
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Aggieware - Moving to Zero Waste Events within UC Davis Student Housing
- University of California, Davis (CA)
Aggieware, the reusable tableware program, was created by UC Davis Student Housing for use with all student programs in the residence halls to reach the University of California's goal ...
- Posted July 1, 2010
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EcoMug at Western Michigan University: The First Decade
- Western Michigan University (MI)
In 2009, Western Michigan University created a novel, and as far as we know unprecedented, waste reduction initiative. During the first few weeks of school, each incoming student is given ...
- Posted July 1, 2010
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Implementing pre and post consumer composting, local food, recycling and trayless programs within ISU dining at Iowa State University
- Iowa State University (IA)
ISU Dining has been actively expanding efforts in waste reduction, recycling, and encouraging local businesses. Farm to ISU, our local food program, works with local farmers to increase the amount ...
- Posted June 30, 2010
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Implementing Vermicomposting in Luther College Residence Halls
- Luther College (IA)
Luther students have started disposing of fruit and vegetable waste in worm composting bins installed in seven of Luther's residence halls by students from the Luther Sustainability program.
Students ...
- Posted June 30, 2010
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Closing the Nutrient Cycle at Appalachian State University
- Appalachian State University (NC)
Students of ASU's Goodnight Family Sustainable Development Program sell produce that they grow at the Program's teaching and research farm on campus to students, faculty, and visitors. This ...
- Posted June 24, 2010
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A Sustainable Thanksgiving Feast: Preserving Heritage Turkeys
- Emory University (GA)
For the second year in a row Emory has partnered with Heritage Foods USA to present the Thanksgiving Heritage Harvest Feast. The Feast features Heritage turkeys, an older breed of ...
- Posted June 16, 2010
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