Academic Building 7!

As Jack Johnson states in his song The 3 R’s, “..And if you've got to make some trash, don't throw it out, recycle, we've got to learn to recycle.” FGCU took this meaning literal by placing recycle receptacles almost everywhere on campus. Each academic building at Florida Gulf Coast University has its own recycle bins as well as each dorm building. The university has programs to collect recyclable materials and reduce the amount of solid waste emitted. There are currently a total of fourteen locations of cleartainers. Cleartainers are recyclers for bottles, cans, and aluminum. In addition to these cleartainers, Florida Gulf Coast University’s campus also has its own plastic bag recycling station, newspaper recycling station, mixed paper recycling station, as well as solar compactors. Not only are there newspaper recycling bins located on the campus, FGCU has its own dumpster, free of charge, specifically for newspaper. Separating our recycled items may not seem like a big deal but it is in fact. Many do not realize how much energy is put into separating items that are being recycled.

*Picture from FGCU*

Not only are our recycled items being emitted, they are also being reused into the structure of our campus. For example, Academic Building 7, the newest building on campus, more than twenty percent of the materials used to construct the building was made out of recycled material. Academic Building 7 was the first building verified by the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification system. “The purpose of this system is to have external verification that our buildings are designed and built to save energy, increase water efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions, improve indoor air quality, and demonstrate stewardship of resources”. Located inside the building are changing and showering areas where those who rode bikes may wash. This encourages bike riding to lessen the amount of unnecessary emissions that are being forced into the environment from our vehicles. High efficiency bathroom fixtures are being used throughout this building to reduce and save hundreds of thousand gallons of water.