nicole haynes

Environmental organizations on campus have spent the COVID-19 pandemic spearheading several sustainability initiatives, including a focus on single-use plastics. 

A policy to phase out nonessential single-use plastics on UC campuses, created by the UC Office of the President, or UCOP, and CalPIRG, was announced and put into effect Monday.

With lab spaces taking up 25% of campus buildings, mitigating the negative environmental impacts of research in labs is a necessary step to achieving some of campus's long-term sustainability goals.

Both UC Berkeley and the city of Berkeley have announced initiatives to reduce and, to some extent, eliminate all single-use plastics by 2030.

The ASUC Senate held a special meeting Friday to pass several bills surrounding new appointments for various positions as well as several measures to increase disability equity on campus and reinforce support for undocumented students.

With the year 2020 approaching, UC Berkeley has diverted only about half the solid waste from landfills necessary to reach its zero waste by 2020 goal.

Standing three or more in a row, one of the most familiar sights across the UC Berkeley campus is, in fact, its trash cans. Many of the waste bins, marked according to specified material, sport the phrase “Zero Waste by 2020,” calling on students, faculty and visitors alike to do their part in the campuswide project to promote sustainability.