Category: Sustainability

Wichita State is partnering with Water Intelligence (WINT) to advance water sustainability at Woolsey Hall. Woolsey Hall is the future home of W. Frank Barton School of Business. In order to advance sustainability practices, the building will use measurement tools to understand how much water is being used in the building. They will also use water sub-metering devices.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 20-25% of all building water consumption is wasted. The WINT system targets water usage from a sustainability perspective, while also stopping major water leak damage events to prevent waste.

By implementing WINT’s artificially intelligent machine learning software, the building’s occupants can measure the typical water usage patterns in the building to create a baseline consumption. The A.I. software will recognize any abnormal water usage patterns and alert building staff. It can also shutoff the water to reduce damage and waste.

These efforts help the university set goals and advance sustainable practices.

Chartwell’s Dining Services recently featured a waste-not day and collected all remaining food scraps from Shocker Dining Hall for a day. During this event, students could see the accumulated result of wasted food, with a large barrel being collected by the end of the day.

By the end of the day, Chartwell’s collected 70 quarts of waste and had more than 70 people sign a pledge to reduce food waste. Chartwell’s provided all participants with 50 Parsley planters, 50 confetti packs (a confetti style seed), and 69 reusable steel straws and cleaners.

Chartwell’s also encouraged students to support a food packaging event, preparing 600 non-perishable packages for the Lord’s Diner, including personalized messages of encouragement for those receiving the meals.

Wichita’s State’s Green Group launched a new initiative during spring 2022 to reduce waste related to move-outs from Shocker Hall. As students packed up to move home, the group collected appliances, furniture and used textbooks.

These items will be stored by Physical Plant during summer 2022 and will be made available to new students moving in for the fall 2022 semester. The students hope to reduce the number of durable goods going to the landfill and provide incoming students useful items for their dorm rooms and save money on textbooks.

There’s a whole world living inside your food waste — billions and billions of microorganisms — just waiting to make your landscaping bloom brighter and your vegetables grow heartier. 

Now Wichita State University is a part of that agricultural miracle thanks to a collaboration among the university, Chartwells catering and Nudge Compost. 

The WSU Sustainability Council, in partnership with organizations and departments across campus, invites you to celebrate Earth Day and all of the sustainable initiatives, programs and research that are happening on campus and in our community. Join us for panels of researchers, community organization exhibitors, student and faculty research, and Earthfest on today, April 22. Events will include the following:

• Special book display celebrating sustainability and Earth Day April 22-May 1 at Ablah Library
• Virtual movie screening – Register to watch “The Revolution Generation”
• Electric vehicles and other community organizations showcasing their contributions to a greener community 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Rhatigan Student Center (RSC) (first floor).
• Student poster contest showcase 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. RSC (first floor)
• K-12 sustainability poster design display 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. RSC (first floor)
• E-Waste and shredding services – Electronix Recyclers and Wichita Shredding providing e-waste disposal and shredding (sponsored by the NetApp Green Team) noon-4 p.m. at NetApp parking lot on south east side of building.
• Welcome speech by President Rick Muma 1 p.m. at Hubbard Hall (Room 208)
• Sustainable farming and ranching panel 1:10-1:55 p.m. at Hubbard Hall (Room 208)
• Keynote presentation “Latest on Energy Technology, and Updates from Sierra Club and City of Wichita Sustainability Board” 2-2:40 p.m. at Hubbard Hall (Room 208)
• Sustainability at WSU panel 2:45 p.m.-3:45 p.m.
• Community Garden – The WSU Green Group will host seed giveaways and planting events at the WSU Community Garden 3 p.m.-5 p.m. behind Ahlberg Hall.
• Shocker New Venture Competition 3-6 p.m. at Koch Arena
• WuStock Earthfest-4-9:30 p.m. at RSC east lawn
• Beautify campus with Green Group 10 a.m.-noon April 23 (meet at Braeburn Square Starbucks)

There are still opportunities for students to share research. Topics of interest include sustainable manufacturing, climate change, green energy, social awareness, and urban planning.

WSU’s EarthFest is a celebration of Earth Day on Friday, April 22. There are several opportunities to join in the festivities:

• Spring cleaning: Shred your documents and get rid of old electronics from noon to 4 p.m. Friday, April 22 in the NetApp parking lot.
• Spring planting from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Wichita State community garden on the east side of Ahlberg Hall.
• Recycled art contest from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Wichita State community garden.
• Live music and food trucks will be featured from 5 to 8 p.m. outside the Rhatigan Student Center.
• Movie night: Watch “Wall-E” and enjoy free popcorn and cotton candy from 8 to 10 p.m. at the RSC.

For questions contact: greengroupwsu@gmail.com or amfitzgerald1@shockers.wichita.edu.

The Shocker Store has taken several steps to reduce the impact of single-use plastics by customers. For example, when customers checkout, they are asked if they want a bag to reduce unnecessary bag use.

Since implementing this policy, bag usage has decreased from 75,000 per year to 25,000 in the past ten years. These bags are made of poly-plastic recycled film and are durable enough for multiple uses.

Additionally, all pre-ordered books are packaged for students each semester in re-usable totes. Students can use these totes again or return them to the Shocker Store so they can be re-used for another semester.

NetApp and Wichita State’s Green Group are hosting a recycled art contest for Earth Day 4-7 p.m. Friday, April 22 at the north side of the Geology Building. All Wichita community members are welcome to participate. The nine submissions selected will win $100.

The winners will be selected by category: static art, dynamic art, and wearable art. Artists have the opportunity to win multiple categories. All submissions must be made of reused or recycled material.

All participants must register by 11:59 p.m. April 21. For more information, contact greengroupwsu@gmail.com or amfitzgerald1@shockers.wichita.edu.

In honor of Earth Day in April, Wichita State is highlighting several sustainability programs available at the university.

In 2021, a group of WSU students collected a load of old and worn-out athletic shoes and sent them to Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program, which repurposes old sneakers. Athletic shoes take about 40 years to decompose and when they do, they leave behind toxins that are in plastics and adhesives. The students organized to be a part of the solution to end this practice.

In honor of Earth Day April 22, Wichita State is highlighting several sustainability programs available at the university.

In 2021, Wichita State’s Green Group applied for a $5,000 grant from Evergy to supply recycle bins for every room in the Flats and Suites. These bins have made it easier for students to recycle and reduce waste going to Wichita landfills.

WSU has also recycled more than 19 tons of material and Reusable water flasks were also purchased to distribute to students to reduce reliance on single-use plastic water bottles. The Green Group has received a second grant for the coming that will be used to support further sustainability education initiatives.