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Campus Recreation hopes to mirror Santa Clara University's commitment to leading the nation on issues around sustainability. Every year, we participate in a waste characterization hosted by the Center for Sustainability which allows us to see what kind of waste is coming from the Malley Center and what can be or should have been recycled or composted instead of thrown away into the landfill. 

The Center for Sustainability works with us to collect recyclable items through Terracycle that are not usually recycled. We hosted the Hoofprint Challenge from 2013 - 2017, which allowed us to work with the SCU community in offsetting the carbon emissions from our 17 Club Sport team travels.

Learn more about all of Campus Recreation’s sustainability initiatives below.

Recycling Brigades
Recycling Numbers
We have diverted the following from the landfill by using Terracycle
83
Britta filters have been recycled. This is a currently open brigade.
 
30K+
Energy bar wrappers collected from April 2013 - February 2020 when the brigade closed.
 
1,291
Personal care & beauty products recycled through Terracycle. This is a currently open brigade.
 
We have the standard bins that you see around campus PLUS we have special blue bins for additional recyclables on campus and through Terracycle. 
Malley Center Blue Bins

blue bin

Image of the blue bins in the Malley Center hallway 

TerraCycle
Q: Where can I drop off items to be TerraCycled?

A: View the SCU Sustainability Features Google map of campus to find the locations of TerraCycle bins at SCU or use the blue bins in the Malley Center. 

Q: What can I TerraCycle?

A: In collaboration with the Center for Sustainability, Campus Recreation has joined the following TerraCycle Brigades Brita Brigade, Personal Care & Beauty Products and the Tom's of Maine Brigade. (Terracycle has canceled the paired shoes, energy bar, and writing utensil brigades). 

Q: How do I know what can be TerraCycled?

A: Click on the accordions below to find out more!

Other Recycling Options
Q: What can I recycle in the blue bins?

A: You can bring your old batteries, CDs & DVDs, and thin plastic. These items will be recycled through the university. We do not accept e-waste or CF lightbulbs. Please contact Facilities directly to pick up these items 408-554-4742. 

Q: Where are the blue bins?

A: The blue bins are in the main hallway of the Malley Center to the left of the check-in desk. 

Recycle Brita pitchers, dispensers, bottles, faucet systems, all filters, and filter packaging as part of the Brita Brigade.

Accepts:

Hair care packaging (shampoo and conditioner bottles/caps, hair gel tubes/caps, hair spray bottles/caps)

Skin care packaging (lib balm tubes, face soap dispensers/tubes, face lotion bottles, body wash/lotion bottles/caps)

Cosmetics packaging (lipstick cases, lip gloss tubes, mascara tubes, eye shadow cases, bronzer cases, foundation packaging)

Accepts:

Oral hygiene + Other personal care: Mouthwash bottles and caps, deodorant containers and caps, toothpaste tubes and caps, soap packaging, floss containers, and toothbrushes.

Conserving Resources
Campus Recreation is Conserving Resources

As of 2012, Campus Recreation participates in an annual Waste Characterization in order to gain valuable information about how to limit the amount of waste the Malley Center produces, and what some of the most popular forms of waste were. In order to reach the goal of going Zero Waste by 2020, characterizing our waste is invaluable. We have made many changes to our operations based on the waste we have seen in these Waste Characterizations.

2019 trash sort

Image from Waste Characterization in 2019

  • Stickers on paper towel dispensers to remind patrons to only use 2 pumps in order to get 9-10 inches of paper towels
  • The locker room paper towel dispensers are touchless & we hope people are only using what is given to them to use 
  • We stopped printing brochures for fitness classes and intramural sports in fall 2009, saving over 500 copies of three to four-page documents annually- we direct all users to our website for schedules for the programs 
  • Good on one side (GOOS) paper is used as scratch paper throughout the department for copies or notes 
  • Bellomy Field switched to synthetic turf in 2011 which was a cost-efficient way to conserve water and create a more usable field for students without the threat of cancellations or closures due to weather
  • Water bottle fillers were added to water fountains throughout the Malley Center to promote the use of reusable water bottles
  • The facility has dual flush toilets in each locker room, aerators on the showers & sinks, and waterless urinals in the men's locker room 
  • Lifeguards tarp the pool daily to limit water evaporation
  • Towel service towels are cleaned only when we have full loads of laundry - our washer holds 20 pounds of laundry 
  • Center for Sustainability Investment Fund (CSIF) approved a project to switch out the basketball court lights for LED lights in summer 2016 this has an estimated 25% reduction in energy consumption over 5 years
  • Solar panels are located on the Malley Center roof above the courts, multipurpose room, and weight room 
  • More than 90% of the cardio machines use self-generated energy- they are “powered by sweat” only the step mills, and nine of the treadmills are plugged into an outlet 
  • Motion sensors in the workroom, laundry room, conference room, and storage rooms limit unnecessary energy use throughout the day. Contact facilities if your department could benefit from motion sensor lights!
  • Basketball court lights are switched partially or completely off during the day based on court use
  • Hallway and lobby lights are turned off during sunny hours to take advantage of natural light
  • The pool is tarped daily to reduce water heater usage in the cooler overnight hours
  • In December 2009, Campus Recreation, with help from the Facilities Department, installed carpet tiles when replacing the carpet in the hallway and weight room of the Malley Center. The decision was made to choose carpet tiles over rolls so that in the future we would ONLY have to replace the bad tiles versus all the carpet our heavy used areas are in front of the locker room doors, and at certain weight room machines. We have replaced five tiles as of fall 2020. 
  • We purchased real tablecloths for annual events to reuse rather than buying plastic disposable tablecloths for each event. This will save money and limit waste into landfills annually.
  • In fall 2011, we began composting paper towels in the locker rooms and weight room of the Malley Center. 
  • Before laminating anything we think about how long it will be used. If it is only for a week or month we will place the item in a plastic sleeve instead - laminated documents need to be thrown away when their use is done 
  • Student staff are reminded at hiring and during staff meetings about various sustainability topics - we noticed various food items incorrectly disposed of during their shifts & we use trainings to give these reminders 
  • In winter 2017 stickers were added to the waste, recycling, and compost bins reminding patrons that paper towels only belong in the compost bins. We noticed during a waste characterization we were seeing paper towels in the recycling 
  • Each day we gather approximately a softball size of lint from laundering all the maintenance towels and bath towels from the Towel Service. All of this waste can go into the compost bin with banana peels, compostable coffee cups, etc.
  • All our lost and found is sorted and delivered to Goodwill at the end of each quarter - this diverts over 150 pounds of waste from the landfill annually 
  • We change out our sporting equipment frequently - basketballs have lost their grip - but they have not ended their use - many that are less fortunate would still enjoy the ball. We work with Uplift Family Services or other local services with children on donating our used sports equipment
  • Annually when we change the towel service we donate the old previous year towels to an Animal Shelter. We also save our old tennis balls for the animal shelter, or the Theater and Dance Department- dancers' feet love using the balls to roll out their feet. 
  • Our giveaways are made from recycled banners. We have been a drop-off point for other campus programs to recycle their vinyl banners into bags, coolers, pencil cases, etc. At this time we are not accepting more banners as we have a number of giveaway products. We use Relan to create these items. 

Image of solar panels on the roof of the basketball courts of the Malley Center

Hoofprint Challenge

Information about the Hoofprint Challenge 2013-2017

To help us off-set carbon emissions & educate SCU students about how travel impacts the environment we held the Hoofprint Challenge from 2013-2017. The final year of this challenge had students pledging to change behavior for a week, quarter, or the year. Each change will equal an off-set amount due to your change having a positive impact on using less of our natural resources.  

2013-2014

Campus Recreation began a campaign to bring awareness to behavior changes that can contribute to reducing carbon emissions. After calculating the total club sports emissions for competition travel for the 2012-2013 academic year, the total emissions equated to 263 tons of carbon dioxide being emitted. In efforts to lower the total club sports emissions for 2013-2014, Campus Recreation engaged the entire campus by quantifying small, medium, and large impact behaviors and challenged students and staff to do enough to "offset" the emissions from club sports.

2014 – 2015

The 2014 – 2015 Hoofprint Challenge began October 20, 2014. After calculating the total club sports emissions for the competition travel for the 2013-2014 academic year, the total emissions equated to 135 tons of carbon dioxide, which was approximately 130 tons lower than the previous year.

2015 – 2016

This challenge had 248 tons to off-set from the 14-15 year of club sports travel. We were not successful in reaching this goal. We believe the format survey was too much like the previous to years and we did not market the challenge as well as we could. We only off-set 84 tons and left 163 to off-set.  

2016 - 2017 

This year we adjusted the survey to be a pledge, and had totals for a week, quarter, or year of the behavior change. We accomplished this year's total of off-sets; and additionally gained 17 tons through our Terracycle brigades program. We had the largest number of club sports athletes participating in the pledges - with 82 of the 88 students and we had 5 faculty/staff - all 93 helped us off-set 125 tons. 

2017 - present

In 2017, we had one of the two full-time employees on medical leave and were unable to keep up the Hoofprint Challenge. We hope to bring another project like this back in the future to help combat the carbon footprint from all the club sports travel to practices, and competitions. 

Spotlight on Sustainability

We have been featured or have presented about Sustainability