On January 16th, Facilities Planning & Management hosted a Mid-Winter Celebration for the Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor and Facility Planning & Delivery. Campus Planning & Landscape Architecture’s Aaron Williams led the charge in “greening” this event, in cooperation with the Office of Sustainability. In addition, Lakeshore Nature Preserve staff Bryn Scriver, Adam Gundlach, and Laura Wyatt, as well as Ben Futa from Allen Centennial Garden, were instrumental in making the event happen.
The celebration featured reusable and recyclable decorations, and attendees were asked to bring their own mugs. By composting excess food and using compostable sugar-cane plates, over 98% of the total waste from the celebration was diverted from the landfill, making the Celebration a “zero waste” event.
The Office of Sustainability assisted with event planning and tracking waste, and will use the experience to help inform their new Green Events program, which will debut this spring.
Certified events will go through a checklist process with Office of Sustainability interns to determine the level of certification earned.
To learn more about the Green Events program, please visit sustainability.wisc.edu/green-events. Interested campus event planners should contact the Green Events team for a preliminary consultation.
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By: Ally Burg