The UGA Office of Sustainability has awarded $43,000 to fund 11 interdisciplinary student projects through its annual Campus Sustainability Grants Program. Two students from the College of Public Health’s Environmental Health Science Department at the UGA College of Public Health were among those chosen for these awards.

The program, funded by student green fees, provides financial and staff resources to implement student-initiated projects that further the university’s sustainability goals.

The CPH recipients of the 2015 Campus Sustainability Grants are:

reCYCLE: Abandoned Bike Repair and Redistribution Program
Yasmin Asghari, an environmental health science major in the UGA College of Public Health from Norcross, will work with UGA Parking Services, BikeAthens, UGA Bike Co-op, Students for Environmental Action, Office of Sustainability and others to implement an abandoned bicycle recycling project. The program will repair abandoned bikes and distribute them to selected UGA students with demonstrated need and a commitment to use and care for the bikes. The bike repair and redistribution program hopes to encourage and increase biking as a viable mode of transportation and mobility to promote a culture of sustainability and health at UGA.

It’s All About the Bags
Tiffany Eberhard, an environmental health science major in the College of Public Health from Athens, will work with UGA Housing, Bag the Bag student organization and the Office of Sustainability to increase recycling of plastic bags and other hard-to-recycle materials in UGA residence halls. The project will increase infrastructure such as new bins and processes for collection and provide educational activities to promote a mentality of “zero waste” among student residents.

Read the entire news release at UGA Today.

– Andrew Lentini

Posted March 11, 2015.