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Sustainability

Initiatives

From the recycling and bicycle programs to fair trade and to the Sustainability House, learn more about Sustainability Program initiatives at Rollins.

Initiatives on campus include the integration of an urban farm managed by two sustainability program students.  Since spring 2015, the farm has been an 'outside classroom' and has also supplied fresh, organic produce to campus dining services.

Urban Farm on campus

Initiatives on campus include the integration of an urban farm managed by two sustainability program students.  Since spring 2015, the farm has been an 'outside classroom' and has also supplied fresh, organic produce to campus dining services.

Spring 2022 weekly workday hours are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 2 - 4 PM.  All are welcome to join our Urban Farm Coordinator, Jason Makris, with weeding, watering, and farm maintenance. 

Campus Initiatives

For many years now there have been several areas on campus making great strides in sustainable initiatives.

Covid 19 update - due to CDC procedures for college campuses, many steps back had to be taken for safety precautions.  Rollins Dining Services is working to bring these initiatives back in line with the updated CDC procedures as we move forward through the pandemic and move forward with our sustainability initiatives.
  • OZZI to-go containers are up and running.  See cashier in the Marketplace for update on how to use.
  • The plastic to-go containers that were brought in for the fall 2020 semester following the CDC procedures have now been replaced with a paper product container.
  • China and silverware are now being offered again instead of only to-go containers.
    • These two changes have significantly reduced the trash in the campus center again!
  • Glass and paper cups have been brought back in to reduce the amount of one-use containers and plastic bottles since the fall.
  • Only reusable bags, along with the use of personal backpacks, in the C-Store - no plastic bags have been brought back!
  • Terracycle!!!  Dining Services brought to the campus a program to recycle plastic gloves that have increased significantly since the start of the Fall 2020 semester.  Plastic gloves will now be disposed of in a much more sustainable and environmental way.

Elimination of plastic straws on campus!

Since August 2018, plastic straws have been eliminated in all dining areas on campus.  Rollins Dining Services offers paper or pasta straws as an alternative if requested.

Removal of plastic water bottles on campus - Spring 2019

Since spring 2019, plastic water bottles were eliminated by Rollins Dining Services in all their cafe and marketplace locations, promoting the use of reusable bottles at one of our many hydration stations on campus!

Plastic-bag-free in all Dining Service areas!

Since spring 2017, the Rollins campus has been free of one-time-use plastic bags in all the Dining Services areas....in particular, the Cstore.
Students of the Sustainability Program spent a week giving away donated reusable bags to prepare the campus for this change, and then the following week, the plastic bags were pulled. 

Fair Trade

Fair Trade your finals

Rollins became a Fair Trade-designated campus in 2013.
To learn more about fair trade and the support behind Fair Trade here in the USA, please read more here.


Cornell Fine Arts Museum Gift Shop

  • Raven and Lily – assorted jewelry and candles
  • Jan Michaels – assorted jewelry
  • Harshita scarves
  • Little Sun Solar Lamps
  • Uashmama bags
  • Kantha Bracelets
  • Twoolies stuffed animals
  • Baby Wit Onesies
  • Compendium Greeting Cards
  • The Granite - Votives and Matchstrikes
  • Little Miss Workbench – Wooden toy cameras
  • Chic Verte jewelry
  • Mark Mat – kids placemats
  • Lure notebooks

Rice Family Bookstore

  • Honest Tea
  • Alta Gracia clothing
    • T-shirts and rolled tees

Dining Services - all dining areas and catering serve Starbucks Fair Trade Coffee and Decaf

C-Store

  • Equal Exchange
  • Bark Thins
  • Dr. Bronner's
  • Wholesome
  • EPIC
  • Glee Gum
  • Divine Chocolate
  • Nature's Path
  • Choice Organic Teas
  • Cafe Altura
  • Twining’s Fair Trade Organic Tea: Earl Grey, Pure Green, and Roobios
  • Numi Tea: Jasmine and Black
  • Bear Naked Granola Toasted Coconut Almond

Bush Cafe

  • Wholesome Organic Honey

Facilities Management

Please see this link to get a comprehensive list of many of these initiatives, including occupancy sensors, high-performance glazing, and green chemicals.
Facilities Management Sustainability Practices

Dining Services

Sodexo Dining Services has been integrating sustainable practices on the Rollins campus and nationally. Find their sustainability initiatives at Rollins College and their nationwide sustainability initiatives at 'Better Tomorrow'.

Locally grown produce can be found throughout the campus dining areas.
Florida Locally Grown 

Purchasing Department

The Rollins Purchasing Department added a Sustainable Purchasing Policy in recent years. Learn More

Through purchasing, Rollins has initiated changes such as Commencement gowns made from recycled plastic bottles and paper source reduction.
Campus Paper Reduction Policy

Bicycle Program

UPDATE ON NEW BIKE HOUSE - the new Rollins Bike House opened in May 2021!  The eastside temporary greenhouse of AY19-20 that overlooks Lake Virginia behind Ward Hall underwent a retrofit to house all Rollins Bike Program bikes.  All 44 bikes in the fleet are now located in this one location just behind Olin Library where students, faculty and staff can check the bikes out.

UPDATE on new procedures check out a bicycle with the Rollins Sustainability Program at the Olin Library Circulation desk.

Wanting to promote alternative methods of transportation on campus, the Rollins Bicycle Library Program began on campus in 2009. A student, faculty, or staff member just simply needs to show their Rollins ID at the circulation desk in Olin Library to check out a bike just like you would a book, DVD, or camera!  Bike rentals are free for 3 days.

In addition to the bike, you can also ask for a helmet and/or a light. Each bike comes with a U-Bolt lock for use to keep it safely locked up on bike racks around campus or locally. Bikes can be used for leisure around Winter Park, for local shopping around town or on campus, or for an extreme workout in the fresh air.

Student sustainability coordinators/bike specialists inspect the bikes each time one comes back to make sure the bikes are in the best working and safe condition to be checked out again. 

Recycling

Rollins College had participated in a single-stream recycling program for the past 15 years, but changes have been made during this academic year due to the pandemic!

The campus is still baling and recycling cardboard, but everything else including recyclables, food waste, landscape trash and what would be considered regular trash is trucked to Covanta.  Covanta pulls all metals to recycle and everything else gets burned to energy.

Because of this change, the Sustainability Program is actively promoting the use of reusables on campus.  This includes the use of 40+ hydration stations throughout the campus.

At this time, the Committee on Environmental and Sustainable Issues on campus has tasked itself to discuss how to bring a more effective and successful recycling program back to the Rollins campus. 

Urban Farm and Sustainability House

Urban Farm

Since spring 2015, the Rollins campus has had a 900 square foot urban farm just outside the Sustainability House on the backside of Elizabeth Hall overlooking Lake Virginia that is being used for educational purposes and to harvest fresh produce for consumption at the marketplace dining area in the campus center.

Two sustainability program students each year are designated as farm managers to plan out the use of the farm.  Among the harvested produce supplied to dining services are tomatoes, kale, lettuce mix, and cucumbers. Spring 2022 open workday hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 2 - 4 PM.

Over the years, RCC classes and a Sustainable Agriculture class have used the farm as an 'outdoor classroom' with the students.

Sustainability House

The Rollins campus has had a 'sustainability house' since 2010. The house is located on the backside of Elizabeth Hall overlooking Lake Virginia and houses environmentally and sustainably-minded students! These students are members of the student organization, EcoRollins, and also include sustainability program coordinators. They participate in gardening, road and lake cleanups, planned events such as Earth Day and America Recycles Day, and the environmental and sustainable education of the campus.

Sustainability House Constitution

Personal Responsibility Each student living within the house would be responsible for their individual actions towards sustainability. One of the goals of the Sustainable House is to provide a network of responsible individuals who can support one another and collaborate in efforts. While each member will be responsible for personal actions, the house on a whole will be monitored in energy use, as well as held up to an outlined set on standards, so individual action will be urged to be considered in context of the group. The house is aimed to be a healthy living environment for all its members. Part of the vision for the sustainable house is to have house members actively participate in creating a sustainable, healthy, environment- whether it be monitoring water, energy, and waste, or putting together local meals for the group and participating in outdoor outings. Each member of the house is an individual, but emphasis will be placed upon community dynamic. A huge part of sustainability is the ability for individuals and groups to work together, individual efforts are important and will be recognized, but group effort and a sense of community are believed to have the greatest impact within our organization.

Social Responsibility One of the major concerns of the Sustainability Program is action and education within the Rollins and Local community. Aside from efforts within the house, each house member will be required to sign a housing contract committing them to initiate (or co-sponsor) one event on campus per semester with the aim of furthering sustainability. These events are open for member interpretation so limitations are not placed on the innovation and creativity of house members. Potential events could include anything from hosting a documentary showing for awareness, setting up a campus volunteer opportunity, working with dining services to offer more of a local food selection, helping to “green” up traditional Rollins events (e.g. Fox Day).