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The University of Tennessee

Make Orange Green

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Current Activities


Make Orange Green header with picture of UC behind trees.

Current Activities

Friends of Switchie

Friends of Switchie support the Switch Your Thinking energy conservation campaign by volunteering to turn off lights, copy machines, window AC units, and other office electronics at the end of each day. The goal of the Friends of Switchie program is to encourage UT Knoxville faculty and staff to serve as environmental leaders in their workplace. For more information and to sign up for the Friends of Switchie program email switchie@utk.edu or become a fan of Switchie on Facebook. We would love to have you as a Friend of Switchie!

RecycleMania

Each year, UT Knoxville competes in RecycleMania, a national competition designed to promote recycling and waste reduction in higher education. Staff and volunteers with Make Orange Green and the campus recycling program track the weight of recyclables and trash generated during the 10-week long competition

During this year’s competition, the campus recycling program took on the University of Florida in an effort to recycle more than the Gators. Although we did not out-recycle the Gators this year, the university’s cumulative recycling total increased by 7,476 pounds compared to 2009.

In addition, faculty, staff and students demonstrated their support for RecycleMania by participating in promotional events like Recyclympics and the Paper Purge Party.

Recyclympics

In support of RecycleMania, students participated in some tough competition at this year’s Recyclympics. Students competed in recycling-themed games such as Phone Book Shot Put and the Recycling Obstacle Course in order to win points for their team. Keep an eye out next year and compete like a "recyclemaniac."

Paper Purge Party

Faculty and staff pitched in to help UT Knoxville out during RecycleMania 2010 by getting rid of office paper clutter. During the week of March 22-26, 2010, volunteers went around to various buildings on campus and collected paper, phone books, old binders, and other recyclable paper products. The total collected was 26,220 pounds of non-confidential paper products. This more than doubled UT Knoxville’s pound per person average in the last week of the competition. Let’s pitch in to win, and beat Florida next year!

Eco-Vols

Students participating as a Eco-Vol serve as environmental leaders within their resident halls. They promote recycling and energy conservation with annual contests such as the POWER challenge and RecycleMania. Eco-Vols storm the halls collecting recyclables at every door in the Hall Storm. In addition, Eco-Vols paint the UT Rock to promote Make Orange Green events and help out with the annual Light Bulb Exchange where students can bring in their old light bulbs for energy efficient alternatives. Serve as a leader and be an Eco-Vol. For more information, email ecovols@utk.edu.

Green Dining
As part of its Green StakesTM program, the corporation ARAMARK, which manages UT Volunteer Dining, have committed to implementing the following sustainable practices across all of its operations by 2010:
* Implement an Energy and Water Conservation program
* Purchase only paper products made with recycled content
* Utilize daily green cleaning products at all locations
* Divert 100 percent of fryer oil waste
* Increase sustainable food offerings served by at least 5 percent per year
At the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, ARAMARK has already adopted a number of sustainability initiatives.