Associated Students Sustainability Policy a.k.a. The Green Bill!

History Originally written in 2012 to match and/or exceed the UC systemwide sustainability policy Turned out to be extremely difficult for student groups to work into typical purchasing decisions, and was never fully implemented Fully revamped in 2015 with student focus and increased emphasis on social sustainability

Policy Components Sustainable Systems Focuses on sustainable infrastructure within AS and ensures that groups are able to follow the rest of the policy Examples: recycling/compost bins must be available to each office Sustainable Practices Focuses on what groups and individuals should be doing on a day to day basis while working in AS spaces Examples: have recycling and compost bins available at all events Sustainable Purchasing Focuses on reducing negative social and environmental impacts from Associated Students purchases without compromising student groups’ ability to carry out their mission Example: t-shirts must be made in the US

Sustainable Systems and Practices All offices should have recycling bins, and all buildings should have compost bins and e-waste bins, and students should use them properly All bins should have signage explaining what goes in the bin A.S. groups must have access to and use resources to make events more sustainable, including: Portable compost, recycling, and landfill waste bins Compostable cups, plates, and utensils 5-gallon jugs and water pumps All offices should have and use reusable cups available for daily users A.S. should maintain a supply of sustainable offices products (paper, pens, tape, etc) that groups are able to access.

Sustainable Systems and Practices

Sustainable Systems and Practices Place extra recycling and compost bins at events; don’t just rely on the landfill bins already present AS Recycling can supply your group with bins and can pick up all of the waste afterwards

Sustainable Purchasing Associated Students acknowledges that the majority of the environmental impact of a typical office environment is not from on-site practices and energy use but from the manufacturing and production, transportation, and disposal of purchased items. In addition, a great deal of global manufacturing is done in poor working environments with very low wages for employees. Associated Students therefore should place a high priority on ensuring that purchased goods are as sustainable and socially responsible as possible. Associated Students acknowledges that the most sustainable purchase is no purchase at all, and therefore encourages groups to consider if they really need an item or a large quantity of items. Purchasing used items should be highly encouraged assuming all other policies are followed.

Water Bottles Absolutely no single-use water bottles may be purchased using student fees! Students typically use 5 gallon jugs + pumps for water stations at events, and A.S. Recycling can supply you with both bottles and pumps for your events. While these bottles can be recycled, they cannot be recycled back into food-grade plastic. Every single plastic bottle you buy or use is new plastic. Also, only 15% actually do get recycled, and those cleaning up from events usually aren’t very careful. There’s no recycling bin in UCen conference rooms, for example

Coffee and Tea Coffee and tea must be fair trade! Coffee is one of the top exports from developing countries to developed countries, so it is an important product to include in a sustainability policy.

Certified Compostable Products Compostable products are available in the Annex to any group with an AS account! Don’t forget to consider how you will dispose of your compostables.

Printing Printing should only be done when absolutely necessary Printers must be capable of double-sided printing and double-sided must be set as the default option An exception can be made if the printer is obtained second-hand, as the avoidance of a new electronic purchase offsets the extra paper use All white paper should be 100% PC-recycled content

Clothing Don’t give away or accept shirts you know won’t be worn other than as nightshirts or workout gear– it’s a waste of your group’s money and is environmentally and socially destructive.

Clothing Social impact: Fast fashion – we are buying more clothing and treating it as though it were disposable, and we now consider clothing an ideal giveaway item. To be able to afford this increase in volume, we lower prices on individual items. Factories are cutting more and more corners to meet volume demands at a low cost…

Clothing Clothing factories are often in terrible condition because of the need to keep costs low. In Bangladesh the Rana Plaze collapsed in 2013, killing 1,130 people. Frequent fires, etc

Clothing Environmental Impact: Takes 700 gallons of water to make a cotton t-shirt, equivalent to running your shower for 6 hours straight. It takes 1/3 of a cup of pesticides per shirt. This guy doesn’t even have a mask.

Clothing In order to make it easy for students to avoid sweat-shop purchases, all clothing and cloth items (such as bags) must be sewn, dyed, and printed in the US and should use recycled or organic cotton. This might make t-shirts more expensive, but many groups end up with extra t-shirts or just give them away to anyone who will take them even if they are never worn. Can we just buy less? There certainly are companies that produce fair-trade clothing internationally, but it is very difficult to determine which are genuine. Sweatshop free is not always accurate and companies deliberately contract out rather than own the developing country factories they buy from. The students who worked on the green bill rewrite decided the most student-friendly option would be to require that they be made in the US. Do groups really need t-shirts for every event? Does every single person need one just for walking by? SustainU: $7.76 per shirt for 200 shirts w/ 1 color single side, including shipping and tax and everything IV Screen Printing: Ask for Royal Apparel blank shirts, more expensive than SustainU when only a few colors are used but due to pricing structure becomes cheaper after about 3 color prints/side.

Summary Whatever AS space you are using, you should have access to important resources like recycling bins, compost bins, green cleaning supplies, etc. These resources don’t do any good just sitting there, so use them! Never use AS funds to purchase single-use water bottles Always purchase fair trade coffee and tea for your offices Always use compostable products, and always put them in a compost bin Limit purchases, particularly apparel, to only what is absolutely necessary and use the savings to invest in quality, environmentally and socially responsible items This is a policy designed for students My role is to make sure everyone is aware of these rules and the reasoning behind them, and, most importantly, knows how to follow them Designed to be updated regularly and have students working on implementation, please join us!

Thank you! AS Recycling: ucsbrecycling@gmail.com Environmental Affairs Board: ucsbeab@gmail.com Zero Waste Committee: zerowaste.ucsb@gmail.com Environmental Programs Advisor: sarahs@as.ucsb.edu Recycling and Compost Coordinator: jessicas@as.ucsb.edu