a bee rests on a purple flower on campus.

Sustainability

Housing and Residence Life is committed to incorporating sustainability best practices and education into the work that is done every day. Through collaborations with campus partners and ongoing education in our residential communities, Housing works to ensure sustainability remains a focus of our staff's work.

Some highlights include:

Paper towel composting
The Alan and Cathy Hitchcock Field & Fork Pantry food drives
Solar panels added to Diamond Village
Reusable water bottle fountains installed in residence halls
Rain barrels installed in Village communities with gardens

Sustainability Tips

We can all do our part to conserve water cutting back on daily water use with a few easy-to-follow tips.

Turn off the faucet when brushing your teeth or when not in use.
Report all leaks through an iService request so our facilities team may address them promptly.
Take shorter showers. A five-minute shower uses 12.5 gallons of water. Each additional minute uses 2.5 gallons.

Be cognizant of all devices you may have plugged in. While not in use, plugged-in devices still utilize power. To minimize your energy consumption:

Unplug any unused devices such as TVs, computers, gaming consoles, or power cables. If you are unable to unplug devices, consider purchasing a "green" power strip that can power off all of your devices through the flip of one switch.
Check the setting of your electronics and enable low-power settings when possible.

The Housing and Residence Life Custodial Services team is committed to using the safest cleaning options for our environment and our students. Cleaning products currently meet and/or exceed the required standards set forth by the Green Seal and EPA registered Eco logo. Join Custodial Services in using environmentally friendly cleaning supplies when cleaning your rooms:

Use rags when dusting or wiping down surfaces. Rags minimize the use of single-use paper towels.
Switch to products that have refillable packaging, minimize the use of harsh chemicals, and have company-wide sustainability practices.

UF collects used paper towels and composts them with food waste in order to divert materials from landfills. Composted towels are transformed into a rich soil additive that will be used in landscaping projects and gardens on campus. To keep this project successful we need your help to:

Place used paper towels into marking "Paper Towel Only" bins.
Do not place any other materials into the "Paper Towel Only" bin as this may contaminate a whole load of compost.