SUSTAINABILITY

Texas A&M strives to renovate and expand its buildings and infrastructure, which means LOTS of construction! Residence Life creates strategies to ensure we minimize wasted material from construction projects, saving resources in the process.

Have you ever started preparing to move out of the residence halls and discovered you acquired more stuff than you remembered? Instead of throwing away goods and contributing to the landfill, donate your material to our Donate, Don’t Dump program! Residence Life partners with Goodwill and a host of nonprofit partners during move-out to give students that opportunity. Accepted items include electronics, small appliances, clothing, towels, rugs, shoes, and other household items. Unopened, unexpired, nonperishable food items can be donated to Residence Life’s Grocery Give & Grab program.

Fill It Forward is a Canadian-based company that makes reusable water bottles and coffee cups. In addition, they also make stickers that can be placed onto a reusable water bottle you already own. Each of their products has a barcode that is tied to their Fill It Forward phone application, free for both iPhone and Android. Every time the bottle is refilled, the user scans the barcode in the app. Based on the size of the bottle, it will calculate a variety of positive environmental metrics. These include the pounds of carbon dioxide emissions prevented from being released into the atmosphere, ounces of microplastics saved from the oceans, and pounds of waste diverted from landfills, among others. 

Not only does Fill It Forward track your positive environmental footprint, but it also promotes social sustainability. For every scan, Fill It Forward donates funds to various clean water and sanitation projects across the globe in partnership with various charities. The app denotes how many scans it will take to fund each project and indicates how many scans the user has contributed to that specific project. Projects range from rainwater cisterns and handwashing stations to funds for freshwater protection laws and educator positions in rural communities. 

You can request a Residence Life Fill It Forward sticker by clicking here or going to tx. ag/FillItForward. More information on Fill It Forward can be found on their website at https://www.fillitforward.com/. An informational video that is presented to Texas A&M community members can be found on the Aggie Eco-Rep’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/9EIa1JXIg4o. 

Since the Spring of 2019, the Grocery Give & Grab (G3) program has allowed residents to donate any food items that are unopened, unexpired, and nonperishable as they leave for winter break or the Summer. In addition, other residents experiencing food insecurity are encouraged to take any items they need from the shelves at any time. Residence Life staff check the bins daily and remove items not meeting the donation criteria. In addition, beginning Fall 2022, G3 locations were added to the 12th Can’s list of Pocket Pantries across campus to provide convenient access to food for students in need.

G3 Pocket Pantry Locations: 

• Hullabaloo 24 Hr. Desk 
• Commons near Community Learning Center entrance 
• White Creek Activity Center 
• Gardens Apartments Community Center 
• Residence Life Central Office (3rd Floor, Student Services Building) 

Examples of Donatable Goods: 

• Canned fruit 
• Soups 
• Cereal 
• Peanut butter 
• Rice/pasta/crackers 
• Granola bars

The Department of Residence Life at Texas A&M University works tirelessly to ensure students in the residence halls can recycle. With over 100 recycling bins in the residence halls, all students have the opportunity to recycle and protect the environment. Funding for the bins come from various projects like the Aggie Green Fund and the Keep America Beautiful campaign, to name a few. In 2013, Residence Life received funding from the Aggie Green Fund to install three-stream recycling bins in the residence halls. These bins enable students to conveniently recycle plastic, aluminum and paper. For a map of recycling bins close to you, please Texas A&M On-Campus Recycling Locations.

Because of its direct impact on carbon emissions emitted from generating energy for our residence halls, we work closely with the award-winning Utilities and Energy Services on a regular basis to address any concerns about inefficiencies. By addressing these issues early, we increase the effectiveness of the residence halls’ systems and maintain a high living standard for students living in the residence halls.

Residence Life knows that staying hydrated is key to student health and success. Since 2015, the department has installed water bottle filling stations throughout the residence halls, thanks to grants from the Aggie Green Fund and scheduled departmental upgrades to halls. These stations provide clean, fresh, chilled water to our students and reduce the amount of waste generated by encouraging residents to use refillable water bottles.