School & Campus Sustainable Circular Economies (Part 1 of 3)

By Danny Schrager, CEO at Geared for GREEN

Dec 8, 2023

Reinvent your trash. While we’re at it, let’s rethink the “Value” of your campus trash too, and let’s reimagine the value of every single product you purchase and use for your campus that could be and should be made sustainably from your own campus waste  

Let’s reinvent all of this more sustainably together!  

Something you may not be aware of when you look at all the waste and trash that’s generated on your campus is that you are paying thousands of dollars every year to throw away “perfectly good recyclables” that winds up sitting in a landfill for the next many student generations.    

Any school administrator understands that landfilling all your waste s is not the best approach.    

One thing students and school administrators may not know is that a lot of that campus and community waste is recyclable and can be used back into your Campus and Community Circular Economy products. Campuses and Communities purchase and use these types of pf products every single day, such as recycling bins, trash cans, storage containers, pallets, school and office supplies, dorm furniture, flooring, school apparel, uniforms, and volunteer gear … graduation caps and gowns, and on and on and on.  ♻️  

Part of the challenges to creating a Campus and Community Circular Economy and turning the waste back into new recyclable products is Technology, but perhaps the bigger challenge is Value. To successfully turn your campus waste back into brand new sustainable products, you need to ensure that the economic journey of creating these products is the same or better than if you were using virgin made raw materials and products.   

And that is generally not the case. It generally costs more to be green. 

How do you turn all of your campus waste materials back into products for your everyday operations and your community, in a way where it makes both economic and environmental sense?  

That’s the question and that’s been our focus over many years at Geared for GREEN and Campus and Community for GREEN   

I take great pride in our contribution to addressing this issue by offering practical solutions that can be easily adopted by schools and campuses. These solutions help build Campus Circular Economies and transparent, interconnected, collaborative sustainable supply chains. They not only reduce waste in educational institutions but also deliver tangible economic value to your school, campus, and community.  

And it's not just about economic value; it extends to environmental value, social value, and sustainable generational value as well.  

I would like to guide you through the WHY, explaining the problems we address, and the HOW, outlining the services and implementation we provide. This will help illustrate what a Campus & Community for GREEN Circular Economy looks like and how you can benefit.  

It all begins with our CFG (4) Pillars of Sustainability.  

When campuses handle waste and recyclables linearly, they limit the value of their waste. Linear transactions focus on the value of recyclables or the cost of hauling them away, based on weight or volume.  

However, when campuses embrace a circular approach to waste and recyclables, they significantly increase the value of their waste and sustainability efforts.  

This approach creates value in multiple dimensions: Economic, Environmental, Social, Educational, Strategic, End Product, and Generational.