Sustainability news: New vehicle charging station, composting recognition, paperless applications

North Central College supports and encourages sustainability practices in all aspects of campus life throughout the year. Recent news include recognition for the College’s food composting efforts, addition of another electric vehicle charging station and paperless efforts in the Office of Admission.
     
A founding institution of the Illinois Food Scrap Coalition’s (IFSC) We Compost program, North Central College has been named an IFSC Gold Partner for demonstrating the highest level of commitment to food scrap diversion by composting both pre-consumer and post-consumer food scraps. The coalition’s We Compost is a recognition program that promotes businesses and institutions that participate in a commercial compost program.

At the south end of campus, the College has installed a second electric vehicle charging station in the parking deck at Highland Avenue, at the rear southeast corner of the lower level. The station is available to members of the campus and community to use; to register for advance authorization visit northcentralcollege.edu/content/electric-vehicle-charging-station. The station was paid for with a rebate from the state of Illinois and a donation.

North Central’s Office of Admission has supported sustainability in a big way as part of its daily operations. The office has switched to electronic applications and is now storing applications and information electronically. This effort saves an estimated 29,000 pieces of paper from the 5,800 applications received in one year, plus the paper used in making the 5,800 manila folders. All total, these efforts save approximately 61,000 square feet of paper. That’s enough to cover eight and one half tennis courts or a professional football field. With the number of students applying to North Central College growing every year, the dollar savings will continue to increase.