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Mesabi Range Community and Technical College-Eveleth Campus

1100 Industrial Drive , Eveleth, MN 55734
Sustainability Team

Mesabi Range College’s Sustainability Team formed in the fall of 2008. Our team includes enthusiastic students, faculty, and staff in the process of learning together how to move the college into more environmentally sustainable operations. Check out our blog: http://mesabirangesustainability.blogspot.com/

We are thrilled to have received the Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbons grant. We have a lot of work ahead of us but are excited to get started!

www.mesabirange.edu
Toby Anderson, t.anderson@mr.mnscu.edu

Campus Recycling Education and Participation

Other

Increase recycling on campus by educating students, faculty, and staff about recyclable items, recycle containers, and the overall importance of recycling. We would also like to purchase additional recycling bins and create educational material including flyers and posters. An additional part of this project would be to audit the current recycling on campus and demonstrate to the college community that recyclable items are being thrown away.

To educate our college community about the importance of recycling while increasing the convenience of recycling on our campuses.

Energy Audit and Conservation Planning

Energy conservation

Using the recommendations provided by the ERM team’s energy audit as well as other research, Mesabi Range College will create and begin to implement a plan to reduce energy consumption.

Reduce overall energy consumption.

Mesabi Range Student's Quick Tutorial on How to Recycle

Energy conservation

One of our team’s goals is to increase recycling awareness on campus. To do this, we have created a short video that will be displayed in the commons area of the campus.

Our goal is to get students and faculty to increase the amount of items they recycle instead of throwing these items away.

Mesabi Range College Looks to Reduce it's Carbon Impact Through Recycling and Composting

Energy conservation

The Mesabi Range Sustainability Team is planning a campus-wide initiative to reduce our impact through increased recycling, composting and increasing student and faculty awareness regarding sustainability issues.
The team members and roles are as follows:
The MRCTC Student Senate will take the lead in engaging students in the project. Senators will recruit student volunteers, assist in developing appealing educational materials, and help run a week long campus event focused on sustainability. Phi Theta Kappa student organization will provide volunteer support during the campus-wide Green Week and will assist in the construction of a campus community garden. Upward Bound Math/Science- area high school students participating in this program at Mesabi Range Community and Technical College will serve as volunteers during the construction of the campus community garden. Graphic Design Program students will be given the opportunity to create marketing materials to promote campus recycling and composting efforts. Wind Technology Specialist Program students will partner with Mesabi Range Sustainability Team in carrying out projects, as well as take part in Green Week to educate campus on renewable energy and the future of green technology. The Mesabi Range Sustainability Team will use campus work study funds to hire a student to oversee recycling program and to assist in the implementation of sustainable projects on MRCTC’s two campuses.
Maintenance staff will play an instrumental role in implementing and evaluating the campus recycling program. Staff will be responsible for ensuring that proper disposal practices are used with recyclable materials and will monitor effectiveness of the campaign to increase recycling. INAC Kitchen staff will assist with initiation of compost program and will begin to dispose of compostable material in a way that promotes sustainability. Other staff members on the Mesabi Range Sustainability Team will help to recruit student volunteers and activists from various on-campus organizations, such as Upward Bound, Information Technology, and the Learning Center.
Science faculty will implement the campus community garden as a learning environment into environmental and natural science classes. Students in these classes will be given the opportunity to learn about native ecosystems as well as the farming techniques that help to ensure their sustainability.

To reduce our carbon footprint by increasing recycing, composting and campus-wide education and marketing.