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Pitt BYO[Bag] Featured in 2018 Sustainable Campus Index

Pitt’s BYO[Bag] reusable shopping bag program is among the impactful initiatives highlighted in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) 2018 Sustainable Campus Index.

To encourage use of reusable bags at Pitt, after the first two weeks of each term, students pay 25 cents for a plastic bag at campus dining or bookstore locations. Half the proceeds from the fee and from sales of BYO[Bag] reusable bags go to the Pitt Green Fund to support other sustainability initiatives.

The program, one of many Pitt dining sustainability initiatives, has cut the number of plastic bags used at campus dining locations and book stores by 98 percent — from 30,000 per week to about 600 per week, said Nick Goodfellow, sustainability coordinator for Sodexo Dining Services at Pitt.

That’s more than 1.3 million bags saved and nearly $6,500 raised for the Pitt Green Fund since BYO[Bag] launched in 2014.

The AASHE Sustainable Campus Index recognizes top-performing colleges and universities in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), and highlights innovative and high-impact initiatives from STARS institutions.

Pitt achieved a STARS Silver rating its first-ever STARS submission this year.