UIC wins state award for sustainability
Surplus computers collected at an electronics recycling event sponsored by the Office of Sustainability. UIC collected 88 tons of unusable electronic equipment in 2012. Photo: Timothy Nguyen/UIC News
UIC was one of 27 institutions across the state to receive a Governor’s Sustainability Award for “significant achievements in protecting the environment, helping sustain the future, and improving the economy.”
The award recognizes 2012 achievements reported by the UIC Office of Sustainability, including:
- nearly 40 percent of UIC’s vehicles use alternative fuels
- 138 megawatt-hours of renewable energy in two buildings, producing the offset equivalent of 6.5 acres of trees
- retrofit of 20,000 lights
- collection of 88 tons of unusable electronic equipment
- $4/semester Green Fee approved by students for green energy, research and demonstration projects
- recycling of empty pipette boxes in lab buildings, diverting 7,200 pounds of plastic.
The awards, which have been given since 1987, were presented by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center during a ceremony in Peoria. The center is part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
