Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University

Kendall College of Art and Design values sustainability, which is why KCAD came out in the top of all US campuses in the 2021 Race to Zero Waste competition!

The 2021 campus waste to zero waste competition at Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD) focused on calculating waste output as well as filter out any inconsistencies in trash, compostable and recyclable material and communication with staff and waste management services. KCAD works all year on its waste management strategy. We use this competition to find our gaps and to find better solutions to different waste stream material challenges. During the competition, student members of the KCAD Green Council and the Sustainability Officer work with purchasing, caterers, suppliers, maintenance, and waste management services. The team advocates and helps purchasing manage guidelines that influence our waste stream. The team also works with event planning and catering to encourage low carbon menus, (more vegetable and less meat options) as well as utilize compostable utensils and serving options.

Additionally, the team works with suppliers on shipping strategies eg: when furniture is ordered, we require the manufacturers to take back the packaging materials and include these requirements within our purchasing contracts. Another strategy to optimize the level of control on the waste output is the leasing of printers and copiers. This is a Circular Economic strategy putting the end of use material issues on the manufacturer (lessor). Additional requirements include that toner cartridge specifications be recycled and returned in the same package as the replacement toner. The printers are also auto enabled to double sided printing limiting the amount of wasted paper. Aiding in reducing paper usage, all courses use the learning management system Canvas, and Google Docs for sharing documents and significantly reducing printing requirements for classes.

Unique Single Use Materials:
- To respond to vending machine inventory (which we have no control over) we use Terra Cycle Chip Bag and candy wrapper recycling – providing boxes at the standardized waste management sorting stations throughout the college.
- Terra Cycle also has boxes for PPE. The use of latex gloves by our maintenance has increased since the spread of COVID-19.
- The gloves are also separated and sent to teracycle.

The more we control what comes into the college - the more success we will have with landfill diversion rates.