Sustainable Campus - Project Green Light by Mikael Thakur

8/14/2019 Sustainable Campus - Project Green Light by Mikael Thakur

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Sustainable solutionsfor a greener campus

Project Green Light

Sponsor:Irene Henriques, PhD([email protected])

Prepared by:Abid Imam([email protected])Mikael Thakur([email protected])


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

What was once regarded as a passing trend has now become a business imperative.Students care about the impact they have on the environment, but their actions at schoolare not always aligned. Universities that can tap into this passion and cross the dividebetween eco-awareness to eco-actions, stand to reap sizeable benefits.Launching Project Green Light (PGL), a sustainability marketing program is proposed tobridge this divide. The initiative creates triple bottom line gains; namely economic, socialand environmental. The PGL Program would also push reduction (a consumption issue) overrecycling (a disposal issue) where applicable.

The challenge rests in finding ways of creating transformational change incrementally: Byencouraging people to mobilize small but significant "15-percent initiatives"(Shawn, 2005)that can snowball in their effects. When guided by a sense of shared vision, the process cantap into the self-organizing capacities of stakeholders.

In the proposed pilot project, our 15% solution is to first focus on coffee vendors andconsumers at the York University campus by encouraging the use of re-usable mugs, acampaign we have aptly dubbed GoMugs under the Project Green Light umbrella. If York'sentire student body of 50,000 strong were to use reusable mugs over a single year, almost17.9 million paper cups1 would be diverted from landfills (Mackenzie Mohr & Associates).

The GoMugs campaign also works in conjunction with the City of Torontos proposed banon paper cups and its increased monetary incentive to consumers who use their own mug.Currently, many coffee vendors already provide a rebate for consumers who bring in theirown mug, however only a handful of coffee-drinkers actually do. The city, throughgovernance, plans on doubling the current rebate by 2011(Hanes, 2008) in hopes toincrease mug adoption.

The GoMugs campaign differentiates itself from other reusable mug campaigns becausethe strategy addresses questions that the other campaigns would avoid: (1) What shapesconsumer behaviour initially? (2) What shapes consumer behaviour on an ongoing basis? Acommunity-based social marketing framework provides answers to these questions as it is acost-effective approach which aims to understand human behaviour and provides a set ofimplementation strategies that are measurable and actionable.

The following document outlines our proposal for the TD Go Green challenge by defining our15% solution. As current studies have revealed that monetary rewards alone will fail inshaping new behavior (Deloitte, 2008), we need to go beyond generic incentives to relevantones. If the pilot is proven to be successful, we will piggyback on its success with otherinitiatives under the PGL portfolio, while leveraging the increased awareness andinfrastructure initiated by GoMugs.

1 Using the same ratios used by John Orpe, Senior Procurement Specialist and chair of University of Calgary'sSupply Chain Management and Sustainability Advisory Committee;http://www.haskayne.ucalgary.ca/haskaynefaculty/centres/cpia/fair_trade_forum_2008

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Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................... ............2

Table of Contents.......................................................................................................3

1. BACKGROUND.........................................................................................................4

Band-Aid Solutions............................................................................................4

Hope Through Diversion....................................................................................4

2. PAPER CUPS............................................................................................................5

2.1 THE BASIC PROBLEM WITH PAPER CUPS............................................................5

3. PROJECT GREEN LIGHT (PGL) .............................................................................5

4. STRATEGY..................................................................................... ..........................6

4.1 PHASE 1: SHAPE BEHAVIOUR

............................................................................................................ ....................6

4.2 PHASE 2: REINFORCE BEHAVIOUR....................................................................7

4.3 IMPLEMENTATION..............................................................................................8

4.3.1 Create Governance / Get Buy-in..................................................................8

4.3.2 Identify & Remove Internal Barriers............................................................8

4.3.3 Identify & Remove External Barriers...........................................................8

4.3.4 Communication & Prompts..........................................................................8

4.3.4 The Green Portal: Transparency, Feedback, Norming, Rewards &

Competition................................................................................................... .......9

4.3.5 Bar Code System: The Enabler..................................................................10

4.4 VALUE EXTRACTION.........................................................................................10

5. FORWARD LOOKING..............................................................................................10

REFERENCES.......................................................................................................... ..12

APPENDICES............................................................................................................13

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APPENDIX A: DEMOGRAPHICS AND STATISTICS.....................................................13

APPENDIX B: PAPER CUP PROBLEMS:.....................................................................13

APPENDIX C: BENEFITS OF PAPERCUPS..................................................................14

APPENDIX D: SPECIFIC REASONS FOR USING YORK AS A PILOT SITE ARE MANIFOLD

.......................................................................................................... ....................14

APPENDIX E: INFORMATION STRATEGY.................................................................15

APPENDIX F: SAMPLE PROMPTS.............................................................................16

APPENDIX G: SAMPLE INCENTIVES................16

APPENDIX H: GoMug DESIGN.........................17

APPENDIX J: TRANSFORMING GREEN SPACES

GREEN LOUNGES........................................18

APPENDIX K: SURVEY RESULTS......................19

1. BACKGROUND

Toronto produces a lot of garbage - almost 1.2 million tons every year (City of Toronto,2007). 60% of this substantial quantity was sent to landfills in 2006, a fact which calls into

question the long-term sustainability of any land-filling operation. No landfill can be trulysustainable if 700,000 tons of waste is being dumped in it annually. Currently, the citytransports its garbage to Michigans Carlton Farms landfill but in September 2006,American officials announced that, effective 2010, they will no longer accept any of

Torontos garbage (Greenberg, 2006).

Band-Aid Solutions

The approximate 150 trucks that deliver Torontos waste to Michigan every single day wouldhave to find a new destination in one years time. The 700,000 tons of garbage Toronto usedto send to Michigan every year would have to be disposed of somewhere else (City of

Toronto, 2007). The tremors of a powerful corporate earthquake reverberated all the way toTorontos City Hall. On the heels of Michigans announcement, The City of Toronto decidedto purchase the Green Lane landfill near London Ontario and commenced land-filling partof the citys waste there in April, 2007.

Hope Through Diversion

Alternatives to land-filling are clearly necessary and the Citys recycling programs are a goodexample of such initiatives. The Blue/Grey Box programs have been in place for severalyears and help recycle metal, glass, plastics and paper. More recently, the Green Binprogram has been implemented for organic waste. This initiative has been very successful,boasting a participation rate of 90% (City of Toronto, 2007). Overall, the citys efforts to

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divert garbage away from landfills have been relatively successful: Torontos 2006residential diversion rate was 42%, up from 30% in 2003 (Weeks, 2004). To build on thissuccess, the City of Toronto on Nov 2008 proposed the ban of paper cups and plastic lids by2011 and mandated that coffee vendors offer a $0.20 discount to consumers who bring intheir own mug.

2. PAPER CUPS

Paper cups are used primarily for three main beverage types: coffee, tea, and specialtybeverages (i.e.: hot chocolate, lattes, etc.), and this hot beverage market is immenselypopular (see Appendix A).

2.1 THE BASIC PROBLEM WITH PAPER CUPS

The problem with paper cups is threefold; the enormous waste that the cups create whenthey are disposed of, the plastic lid which is not recyclable2, and the environmental impact ofthe manufacturing process (see Appendix B). The City of Toronto is moving in the rightdirection with the proposed ban of these cups. Pundits against the ban have suggestedrecycling the cups as an alternative, however recycling of any nature involves the creation ofnew greenhouse gases and poses potential health risks to consumers. The Canadian HealthBoard as well as the Federal Drug Administration (US) strictly regulates the use of recycledpaper pulp in direct contact with food and beverages. Currently no recycling firm produces apaper cup from 100% recycled material, and recycled paper is not strong enough to holdliquid thus the need for additional pulp and therefore the use of trees. These cups also donot insulate sufficiently, making the cups undesirably too hot or to cold - therefore requiringan additional cup the dreaded concept of double cupping.

The eventual hidden environmental impact such as transportation of recycled materials,energy use etc. are rarely audited. The only truly long term sustainable solution would be todeter the use of paper cups altogether (see Appendix C Benefits of Reusable Cups).

3. PROJECT GREEN LIGHT (PGL)

The PGL is an overarching sustainability-driven marketing program. It is or will be composedof a portfolio of campaigns that, for now, attempt to achieve social, economic andenvironmental gains. The GoMugs campaign attempts to use community-based socialmarketing tools to promote the initiative while ensuring that an infrastructure is supportiveof the desired behaviour.

Because PGL targets the full student body with varied motivations,interests and, its campaigns goals have to be simple andunderstandable. Measurability is also an important criterion as it

impartially defines what success means for each objective whileallowing for fact-based decision making and communicationsthroughout the campaign. The objective of the GoMugs campaign is toachieve an adoption rate of at least 80% of the use of resuable mugs atcampus coffee retailers.

With a population of over 50,000 students, York Univerity (York) is the ideal community forthis pilot project.

2 Paper cup lids are considered recyclable 6 however Toronto does not have the means to recycle this material.

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Yorks size, relative isolation, and its global reputation of being leaders in sustainability makeit an ideal candidate for GoMugs (See Appendix D).

4. STRATEGY

A community-based social marketing framework will be used to drive a marketing campaignaimed at promoting the usage of reusable travel mugs. This framework is used to fostersustainable behaviour as opposed to one-time actions, which is prevalent in traditionalmarketing. The beauty of this type of marketing is that it is powered by the targetedmasses (i.e.: communities) and not solely by the marketers themselves. Thereforeinformation is flowing top-down, bottom-up and horizontally which facilitates buy-in fromall involved through communication and transparency between stakeholders (see AppendixE) such as the City of Toronto, the Presidents Sustainability Council (PSC), the student bodyand on-campus retailers.

The implementation is broken into two phases: (1) shaping initial behaviour and (2)maintaining the behaviour. The phases were divided in such a way as to group like-activitiesbehind the campaign together. The first phase deals with creating the initial desired

behaviour, which is to boost reusable mug usage on university grounds.

Sustaining the desired behaviour is where past sustainability-minded campaigns havegenerally failed. Efforts within the PGL portfolio need to continuously surprise and delightthe intended audience. This ensures relevance of the behaviour over time. The secondphase deals with activities to sustainably maintain reusable mug usage on campus.

4.1 PHASE 1: SHAPE BEHAVIOUR

Identify and Remove Internal Barriers. This deals with removing lack-of-awareness of thebenefits of using reusable mugs. Identifying the internal barriers will be done through aninitial round of surveys and focus groups conducted on a subset of York University'spopulation. Members of sustainability-focused organizations such as York's Net Impact club3

may be leveraged to conduct these.

Analysis of the results will aid in prioritizing internal barriers. In order to leverage limitedresources, only the top offending barriers will be dealt with through signage (see Promptsand Communications below).

Identify and Remove External Barriers. This deals with observing the campus environmentand identifying physical barriers that make the desired behaviour inconvenient. Forexample, existing water fountains around campus can be retro-fitted with 'mug cleaningutilities' - making it easier and convenient for 'on-the-go' incumbents to clean their mugs.

Communication. Persuasion depends on capturing attention.There are numerousenvironmental statistics at the individual level that can be used to paint a vivid picture.

Students tend to challenge top-down authoritarian forms of communication, which is whyfinding a credible source to communicate to the student body is essential. Studentassociations would be best to spearhead communications - who better to understandstudents than other students? (Please see Appendix H).

3 Net Impact is a global organization whos Toronto chapter is run by York MBA students under the mandate ofdriving creative positive social change while promoting business profitability(http://netimpact.schulich.yorku.ca/about.html).

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Many environmental communications tend to favour the frame of 'impending doom',painting a bleak and unavoidable future. If there is no believable positive outcomecommunicated from GoMugs, then this marketing campaign would fail before itsimplementation. Instead communications in this campaign will describe the environmentallosses incurred due to inaction (through concrete statistics and images) while also describingthe power of change held by a single individual if he/she were to adopt the desired

behaviour.

Prompts (or Reminders). Prompts will be used to combat human forgetfulness in using theirmugs. Three criterions will be used for the implementation of prompts: (1) that they arenoticeable, (2) that they are self-explanatory, and (3) that they are positioned as close aspossible to the desired action. For example, signage can be created and placed inside dormlobbies in order to catch students before they leave for classes (See Appendix F).

The purpose of a prompt is not to change attitudes or increase motivation, but simply toremind us to engage in an action that we are already predisposed to do. (Mackenzie Mohr &Associates) Thus prompts will play a big role in sustaining the desired behaviour that isPhase 2.

Norming. This leverages the power of community norms. People instinctively compare theirbehaviour to others and tend to desire being part of a certain group and adopt its 'normalbehaviour'. This campaign aims to insert the desired behaviour into the university's overallculture, therefore avoiding the scenario where reusable mugs specifically only relates to asmall subset of students identified as being 'environmentalists'.

Fortunately, based on the norming concept, as adoption of reusable mugs grows andapproaches what is called 'normal' behaviour, late adopters of the desired behaviour willtend to adapt their actions to match those of their colleagues.

4.2 PHASE 2: REINFORCE BEHAVIOUR

Incentives: In order to maintain, and continuously promote reusable mug usage, an

incentives program will be developed. Each coffee shop that wants to participate willcapture travel mug use frequency and upload the data to a central database maintained bythe university. Access to the database will be available to the retailer so that they can runtheir own reward system. The availability of information also plays in with the transparencyaspect of the campaign after all, retailers are stakeholders too. Examples of incentivesystems that the university can use are available in Appendix G.

Feedback: The data will also be used for 'before' and 'after' metrics to refine futurecampaign effectiveness and to provide feedback to students and staff engaging in thedesired behaviour.

Therefore, not only will the ability to collect metrics benefit the campaign and the studentbody, but also create tangible value to the university and its retail partners (i.e.: retailers

can use data to reduce paper cup orders, up-sell higher-end coffee since students areincreasingly aware of the 20 cent savings, etc.).

Personnel / Community Goals- Competition:Finally, competition (cross-campus, eventuallycross-university) will be used leverage humans' inherent competitive nature (Deloitte, 2008)in order to sustainably promote mug usage.

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4.3 IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation is to be tightly based on the marketing strategy in order to mitigate'strategic drift'. Therefore a form of governance will be necessary to ensure that theimplementation is sound and focused; while course correcting if necessary.

Timeframe for implementation is not dependant on any particular event. That is, theUniversity can literally start tomorrow if desired.

4.3.1 Create Governance / Get Buy-in

Before any campaign work begins, it is necessary to create a panel in which interestedfaculty members can act as a single point of contact in governing the initiative. Fortunately,

York already has such a panel PSC. Because many of the decisions will directly effect thestudent body, transparency is essential to ensure their (and any other stakeholder's) buy-in.

Therefore an online portal, 'The Green Portal' will be created to communicate and discussthe operations of the campaign.

4.3.2 Identify & Remove Internal Barriers

Conduct a survey to capture potential student misconceptions in regards to the benefits ofusing reusable mugs. Secondly, analyze and prioritize issues that need to be addressed. Inorder mitigate costs while promoting involvement, the survey, analysis and prioritization isto be conducted by students in a relevant class as an assignment/project.

Removal of internal barriers will be done through communications and prompts (please seeCommunications and Prompts Section below).

4.3.3 Identify & Remove External Barriers

Again, this can also be conducted using students, however the campaign will use theconsultancy of an industrial designer to leverage current university infrastructure to renderthe usage of mugs convenient throughout the campus. The engineer will provide an

analysis followed by recommendations, which will in turn be vetted by the PSC.

Once the PSC has vetted the recommendations and decided upon which ones will beimplemented, the appropriate persons will be contracted in order to carry out the change.Initial GoMugs recommendations::

Mug availability: Distribution of reusable mugs during events with high participation rates.Surveys reveal that 25% of the student body does not own a reusable mug (Appendix K). This isa major barrier to adopting the desired behaviour; therefore every student will receive a free atthe earliest point of their university career, that is, frosh week via 'frosh kits' & YorkFest4.Additional mugs may be purchased through not only bookstores but also available at each outletthat sells coffee on campus as well. Yorks current Mug Program has worked with on-campusretailers to sell mugs made out of recycled plastic for $5.Mug procurement: GoMugs mugs will be sourced locally, made out of recyclable material and

incorporate convenient features such as the ability to be clipped onto backpacks (see AppendixH).

4.3.4 Communication & PromptsCampaign communications will be coordinated through collaboration between York's NetImpact Club and Yorks Marketing Association. Signage will be used at key advertising real

4 York Fest is a two-day annual festival held by the York University allowing students to interact amidst concerts byheadlining Canadian artists: http://www.yorkfest.ca/history.php

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estate across the university and each will communicate dual messages: (1) the loss due toinaction and (2) benefits due to action at the individual level (see Appendix F). The followingimplementations will be carried out for communications and prompts:

Media: York University also uses LCD monitors and projectors to advertise school and currentevents. These are located in high-traffic areas and are a low-cost means to delivercommunications. Communications will also be distributed through advertisements in studentnewspapers. The newspapers will also be used as a platform to communicate the purpose,progress and impact of the initiative - and will subsequently direct readers to the campaign'sonline forum (see The Green Portal Section).

Reminder Prompts: Reminder signage will be used at key points where there is only minimaldegree of inconvenience to retrieve one's mug if forgotten. Dormitory lobbies near exits andparkades will therefore be locations of choice.

4.3.4 The Green Portal: Transparency, Feedback, Norming, Rewards & Competition.The Green Portal is an online site that facilitates transparency throughout the campaign'simplementation and ongoing operations. Through the benefits of Web 2.0 technologystakeholders can discuss and develop ideas for current and subsequent initiatives. The PSC

will use this portal to communicate details about Project Green Light while welcomingfeedback concerning campaign effectiveness.

Aggregated data gathered through the bar code system (see next section) will be madeavailable through this portal. This will allow stakeholders to gauge the progress of thecampaign over time. For example, portal users will be able to determine the number ofpaper cups that have been offset since the project's inception (by taking the difference ofoverall sales volume of coffee and subtracting the number of transaction in which travelmugs were used).

As mug usage grows, the portal's statistics will help the norming phenomenon (sinceindividuals will have a consolidated view of the behaviour of their colleagues and if they fallbelow the average usage, they will increase their own). The portal will also be leveraged toestablish an incentives system where the campaign will reward 'eco-points' based onfrequency of mug use, which in turn can be translated towards online purchases of selecteco-friendly products agreed upon by the PSC (Appendix I). This will ensure that the desiredbehaviour promotes further positive actions; thus promoting the credibility of the overallproject.

Research and sustainability initiatives conducted by Deloitte and EnvironmentalPsychologist, Doug McKenzie-Mohr, discovered that friendly competition is another powerfulway to motivate desired behaviour. Because the database driving the portal is collected atthe individual level, a rankings page can be developed spotlighting the top 10 travel mugusers on campus. Competitiveness coupled with a rewards system creates a powerful pullfactor towards the desired behaviour.

Thus the recommendations for the Green Portal are:

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Forums and blogs to promote top-down and bottom-up flow

of information

Online display of paper cup usage data

Online display of personal eco-points attained

Display of rankings at the individual level

4.3.5 Bar Code System: The Enabler

A bar code system will be used to gather data on travel mug use. All venues serving coffeewill be retro-fitted with a bar code scanner where students will scan their student cards atthe end of every transaction that involves the use of reusable mugs. Once scanned, acentral database maintained by the University is updated with the desired data. Back-endlogic will subsequently run and reward the student's record with the appropriate number of'eco-points'.

The bar code technology was chosen due to its ease of installation & use, accuracy, speed,relatively cheap hardware (each hands-free scanner costs approximately $200 CDN(TigerDirect)) and because it does not significantly hinder retail operations. The scanner willbe 'ready to scan' only after a reusable mug related transaction has occurred.

4.4 VALUE EXTRACTION

If each of the 11+ on-campus retailer sells a conservative 200 coffees a day, this will resultin 2200 cups sold. On average, the cost of a paper cup, complete with its own cardboardsleeve, store artwork and plastic lid costs 15 cents5. This results in $30 in costs incurred byeach retailer. The 20 cent incentive would negate these profits, but GoMugs has facilitatedother ways for retailers to benefit the triple bottom line from their participation:

Profitability: Increased mug usage will save students $0.20 cents per coffee as mandated byToronto City Council; eco-point incentives to students: Data from Green Portal contributing tosounder business decisions for retailers; reduced university waste management costs.

Societal: Less visual waste on campus and landfills; sense of positive contribution

Environmental: Less cups will be needed, reducing carbon emissions due to coffee cupsourcing; less waste

5. FORWARD LOOKING

The future of GoMugs will go as far as campaign objectives and marketing strategies arere-visited, updated and made relevant. Every facet of the campaign is deliberately designedto be scalable: Savings from lowered coffee cup waste can be routed to fund additionalmarketing campaigns under the PGL portfolio; the Green Portal can be used to spur creative

and innovative ideas to further green the university; the barcode scanners can be extendedwith minimal effort to gather additional transaction information; third party sponsors can betapped to provide additional online incentives etc.

In order to mitigate costs and ensure the continued effectiveness of past campaigns,synergy must be created within the PGL portfolio. The following forward-lookingrecommendations aim to achieve this:

5 This varies between stores greatly. Higher-margin coffee retailers such as Second Cup may pay upwards of 20cents per cup whereas more commoditized coffee providers such as Tim Hortons pay 8 cents per cup.

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Green Share Campaign: This campaign espouses the sharing of GoMugs results and keylearnings with other universities striving for a greener campus in hopes to spur similarcampaigns. As free markets have continued to demonstrate the virtues of competition, thecampaign aims to route metrics from initiatives across universities into each version of theGreen Portal to promote intra-university competition.

Green Space Campaign: By transforming antiquated and unused common areas aroundcampus and creating an atmosphere that provides students a place to enjoy their hotbeverage. Materials for these Green Spaces will use the sourcing policies designed in theSource Green Campaign (see Appendix J)

No Barrier Campaign: This campaign takes a more holistic approach at removing barriersto any campaigns desired behaviour. For example, 43.8% of respondents did not bring theirmugs because of the hassle of having to wash their mugs (Appendix K). A suggestion ofremoving this barrier while leveraging university infrastructure would be to retrofit waterfountains close to existing campus coffee retailers with washbasins. The scorecardgenerated from the previous campaign would help in determining whether washbasinswould be a viable option.

The opportunities are endless; which is why framing ideas in terms of realism, relevance tothe student body and acceptable return on investment are essential to maintain a self-sustaining portfolio of campaigns. Campaigns in turn need to maintain strategic-fit with theorganizational body running it and its environment. For example, the success of the GoMugscampaign not only depends on the number of people using mugs, but on how often each ofindividual brings their mug to school. These constraints drove the adoption of a marketingcampaign that promoted sustainable behaviour while leveraging the sense of communitynaturally found on university campuses in order to increase the number of mug users. TheGoMugs campaign is an example of leveraging a relatively small change and turning it intoan opportunity that can be used to create a broader sustainability marketing platform acrosscampuses.

Finally, sharing learnings to subsequent pilot sites and ultimately to the City of Toronto willadd scale to the triple bottom line gains rendering the name Toronto synonymous toEnvironmentally Progressive all it took were mugs!

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REFERENCES

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. (n.d.).Agri-Industries. Retrieved December 27,

2008, from The Canadian Tea and Coffee Industry: http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-

AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1172237152079&lang=e

Canadian-Universities.net. (n.d.). Canada's Education and Career Guide. Retrieved

12 23, 2008, from Canadian-Universities.net: http://www.canadian-

universities.net/Universities/York-University.html

Deloitte. (2008). Crossing the Green Divide: Ways to channel your team's

p(Lewington & Jeff, 2008)assion for greening into actions for your bottom line. Case

Study, Deloitte, Detroit Chapter.

Energy Information Administration. (n.d.). Official Energy Statistics from the U.S.

Government. Retrieved 01 01, 2009, from How Many Years to Disappear?:

http://usasearch.gov/search?input-form=simple-

firstgov&v%3Aproject=firstgov&query=paper+cup&affiliate=eia.doe.gov&x=0&y=0

Euromonitor International. Coffee Canada. Euromonitor. Euromonitor.

Hanes, A. (2008, November 4). National Post. Retrieved January 1, 2009, from Bye

bye paper coffee cups, helo styrofoam:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/11/04/bye-bye-

plastic-water-bottles-hello-reusable-containers.aspx

Lewington, J., & Jeff, G. (2008, 02 12). Council set to vote on rules to curb packaging

waste. Retrieved 12 18, 2008, from Globe and Mail:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user

_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20081202.COU

NCI02%2FTPStory%2FTPNational%2FOntario%2F&ord=30178301&brand=theglobea

ndmail&force_login=true

Mackenzie Mohr & Associates. (n.d.). Prompts: Remembering to Act. Retrieved 12

21, 2008, from Fostering Sustainable Behavior:

http://www.cbsm.com/Chapters/prompts.lasso

Shawn. (2005, January 20).Anecdote: Putting stores to work. Retrieved January 3,

2009, from Gareth Morgan's 15% concept:http://www.anecdote.com.au/archives/2005/01/gareth_morgans.html

TigerDirect. (n.d.). Barcode Scanners. Retrieved December 28, 2008, from

TigerDirect.ca:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=298

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During the manufacturing process, cups are laminated with a plastic resin calledpolyethylene. This helps keep beverages warm and prevents the paper from absorbingliquids and leaking. The plastic coating also prevents the cup from being recycled. Everypaper cup that is manufactured and coated with plastic resin ends up in a landfill. Once in alandfill, the paper will begin to decompose. This process releases methane gas, which has23 times the heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide (Lewington & Jeff, 2008).

APPENDIX C: BENEFITS OF PAPERCUPS

Reusable coffee cups reduce the impact disposable cups have on our environment. A studyby Canadian scientist Martin Hocking revealed that manufacturing paper cup uses as muchpetroleum or natural gas as a polystyrene cup (another name for Styrofoam), the papercup alternative. Plus, the paper cup uses wood pulp. The study said, "The paper cupconsumes 12 times as much steam, 36 times as much electricity, and twice as much coolingwater as the plastic cup." And because the paper cup uses more raw materials and energy,it also costs 2.5 times more than the plastic cup. But the paper cup will degrade, right?Unlikely, well at least not as soon as one would believe: Modern landfills are designed toinhibit degradation so that toxic wastesdo not seep into the surrounding soil andgroundwater. The paper cup will still be a paper cup 20 years from now (Energy InformationAdministration). Waste and damage done by green house gases are all decreased by

reusable cups after only 24 uses. As an added bonus, reusable cups help cut supply costsfor coffee houses. That discount is often passed on to consumers saving everyone money.

APPENDIX D: SPECIFIC REASONS FOR USING YORK AS A PILOT SITE ARE MANIFOLDUniversities have always been at the forefront of research and innovation and have provento be models for positive change within society. York University has great potential toachieve a sustainable campus through intelligent and innovative planning strategies, whichis why it is the ideal site for the PGL pilot. The university is already incorporating sustainabledesign in the construction of new building and gaining valuable experience in doing so. Inparticular, some of the reasons we chose York University for this pilot are:

Size Shaping the behaviours of a student population of 50,000 ensures that the marketing strategy is general

enough to appeal to a wide set of student motivations Isolation York is essentially a small town in its own right. Because of its suburban location, on-campus

students seldom venture outwards due to a lack of a motor vehicle and lack of convenient transit. For thepurposes of this campaign, this ensures that most coffee purchases will be done on campus thus maximizingexposure to PGLs implementation

Clustered Both campuses are adjacent to one another (essentially a single location), easing theimplementation of the campaign

11 existing retail coffee vendors allows the campaign to capture anomalies in coffee consumption behaviourwhile controlling cost of implementation as part of the costs are dependant on the number of vendors (seeImplementation Section)

Yorks current Mug Program already has many of the stakeholders from a governance basis involved in drivingmug adoption on campus: http://www.yorku.ca/csbo/groundsfleetwaste/mug.html

Brand alignment Yorks Schulich School of Business MBA program is ranked #1 in Canada in Corporate SocialResponsibility and #15 in the world. Any campaign (such as PGL), would only serve in convincingly buildingthe schools brand and getting administrations buy-in

York is also is renowned for its MES (Masters in Environmental Studies) program and thus the campaign can tap

into both MES and MBA students for a sustained stream of ideas

In addition, York University is committed to sustainability and has a strong history ofsustainability related activity and research, education, and application. As a signatory of the

Tallories Declaration, York has a responsibility to provide leadership and dedication tosustainability on its campuses and to the greater community.

York University Presidents Sustainability Council Mandate:

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1. Develop a framework for understanding the different dimensions of sustainability as relevant to theuniversitys campuses;

2. Conduct a sustainability audit to establish a common understanding and benchmarks;3. Provide a forum in which members may discuss sustainability challenges and opportunities and establish a

pan-university approach to sustainability initiatives;4. Identify and review current university sustainability practices and ascertain opportunities for synergy;5. Through a planning/prioritizing process, identify and examine specific high priority issues and develop

recommendations for the President to consider implementing;

6. Develop a communication tool that will serve as a focal point for sustainability activities and initiatives asYork; and

7. Produce an annual report on sustainability at York relative to the councils Activity

APPENDIX E: INFORMATION STRATEGY

Figure 3: Transparency Strategy adding value to key

stakeholders

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APPENDIX F: SAMPLE PROMPTS

APPENDIX G: SAMPLE INCENTIVES

Incentives that are driven by the eco-points generated via reusable mug usage.Partnerships will be have to be created to procure rebates for third party products, howeveron-campus retailer buy-ins will be the best place to start as it is local and awareness of theGoMugs campaign will already be there.

http://www.imagengreen.com/index.htm

Vancouver-based suppliers of promotional

green products including hard goods such as

markers & corn plastic pens; apparels and

bags; and eco-material.

http://www.grassrootsstore.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=5

Toronto-based retailer ofenvironmentally friendly lifestlyproducts

http://www.bookstore.yorku.ca/index.cfm?index=Textbooks&cfid=4502760&cftoken=48296865

Eco-Points can be used to purschaseused books. This coincides with thecurrent Yorkw!se campagin of

promoting the used books as a formof recycling:http://www.yorku.ca/yorkwise/index.html

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Free coffee at on-campus retailersafter n times reusable mug usage:retailer include Tim Hortons, SecondCup, Timothys etc. A completelist of coffee shops can be found at:http://www.yorku.ca/foods/locations/

coffeeshopspubs.html

APPENDIX H: GoMug DESIGN

All goMugs will be standardized. goMugs will be green and branded by the PGL logo

Figure 4: Sample Mug Design

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APPENDIX I

Table 1: Figures Basd on calculations by www.Papercalculator.org and the

Environmental Defense Organization

Number

of cupsthrownaway /day

Tons of

woodconsumed

Number

of treescutdown

BTUs of

energyused

Number

ofhomesthatcould bepowered

Amount

of waterwasted

Number

ofolympicsizedswimming pools

Solid

wastecreated

Coffeecupsusednationally in2006

16Billion

951,579 Tons

6,569,421

4,884Billion

53, 895 4 BillionGallons

5,979 253Millionlbs

Starbucks 2000

coffeecupsused

1.9Billion

113,000 Tons

780,000 580Billion

6,400 470Million

Gallons

710 30Million

lbs

Starbucks 2006Coffeecupsused

2.3Billion

136,789 Tons

944,211 702Billion

7,747 569MillionGallons

859 36Millionlbs

Coffeecupsused ata largecollege

5000 109Tons

749 557Billion

6 0.5MillionGallons

1 28,816lbs

Based on conservative estimates, York University would throw away approximately half theamount of coffee cups thrown at a large college per day; still, looking at the graph we canget a handle on the impact that the university currently has.Table 2: York-Specific Scenario Analysis

Reusablemugadoptionrate % (i.e.success ofcampaign)

Number ofcupsthrownaway / day

Tons of wood consumed Number of treescut down

Solid wastecreated (Ibs)

StudetSavins ($)

0 2640 57 392 15215 0

60 1056 22.8 156.8 6086 316.880 528 11.4 78.4 3043 422.4

100 0 0 0 0 528.0

APPENDIX J: TRANSFORMING GREEN SPACES GREEN LOUNGES

We have identified and isolated many low use urban spaces at York University that can beused under the PGL umbrella. These spaces are located in high traffic adjacent to coffee

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vendors. By transforming these urban spaces and making them more green, they can bepart of the PGL ecology. The space can be remarketed as Green Lounges by providing aplace for GoMug participants to enjoy their beverage. These lounges will also shapebehavior by promoting sustainability through prompts.

Figure 4: Un-used urban space at York University that can be transformed into GreenLounges.

Location: Vari Hall, York University. Toronto, Ontario, CanadaPhoto by: Mikael Thakur 2009

APPENDIX K: SURVEY RESULTS

Do you own a reusable mug?Yes 72.2%; No 27.8%

If you answered Yes to Question 1, how often do you use it?All the time: 21.4%; Some of the time 42.9%; Almost never 35.7%; Never 0

If you answered yes to Question 1, how many times a week do you bring your own mug toschool?Never 50%; 1 8.3% ; 2 8.3%; 16.7%; 4 0%; 5 16.7%; Everyday 8.3%; Once all semester 8.3%

What would prevent you from using it at school? (choose as many)Inconvenience 37.5%; The need to wash the mug after use 43.8%; Forgetfulness 75%; Dontneed one 6.3%; I prefer paper cups 12.5%

Are you aware of discounts offered by coffee shops for those who bring their own mugs?

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Yes 72.2%; No 27.8%

Are you aware that coffee cups on campus are not recycled? Yes 22.2%; No 77.8%

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Sustainable Campus - Project Green Light by Mikael Thakur

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