Buy Green
The university's purchasing departments are working toward buying green and sustainable products. Details are below.
| Commodity | Brief Description |
|---|---|
| Carpet | The Architects Office currently uses Green Seal certified carpet when new carpeting needs to be applied in academic buildings. In addition, carpet still in use in academic buildings that is not Green Seal certified is recycled after replacement through a contract with Interface. |
| Ceiling Tiles | Indiana University has a contract with USG that allows Indiana University to recycle old ceiling tiles that have been replaced. Indiana University palletizes the old ceiling tiles, USG then sends a truck to pick up the pallets at no cost, and then USG recycles the old tiles back in to production. The only cost to Indiana University is to palletize the tiles. |
| Floor Care Products | The Indiana Memorial Union on the Bloomington campus no longer cleans and polishes it floor using wax products, but rather polishes them using grain stone disks. This has eliminated the need to purchase certain cleaning products. In those instances where floor cleaning products are needed, the Indiana Memorial Union purchases products, which are water based and have low or no levels of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's).
The Building Services division (Bloomington Campus) also purchases green floor cleaning products, as they contain low-zinc amounts and are packaged in recycled material. |
| Lawn Care | The Architects Office uses mulch that is shredded native hardwood bark and must contain a minimum of 25% organic material. The Architects Office has also taken steps to eliminate products that use rainforest wood (i.e. teak or mahogany) or other products from our university site and landscape standards. Additionally, the Physical Plants Campus Division also uses hardwood bark mulch and organic fertilizers in certain instances. |
| Lighting | The Architects Office, Residential and Program Services, the Indiana Memorial Union, and Building Services all utilize compact fluorescent lighting where possible. In certain instances, incandescent lighting is used to maintain the ambience of certain rooms or because compact fluorescent bulbs are not made for those specifications, specifically within the Indiana Memorial Union. Furthermore, compact fluorescent lighting that is certified by Green Seal is being utilized, as they contain low mercury levels and can disposed of like a typical incandescent lights instead of being disposed of by specialty recycling. |
| Paper | Over 50% of the paper that Indiana University - Bloomington uses is recycled paper. The Indiana University - Bloomington letterhead is made of 15% post-consumer recycled paper. Printing Services is the largest generator of good recyclable paper on campus. |
| Toner Cartridges | Indiana University has toner cartridge recycling contracts with both Lasertech and Cannon IV. Indiana University has the option of purchasing new or reused cartridges. With Lasertech, when a department has used a significant amount of cartridges, Lasertech will come directly to the department and pick up the used catridges. Cannon IV sends a prepaid box to the department so that all they have to do is put the used cartridges in the box. |
| Vehicles | The Indiana University Motor Pool and IUPUI Motor Pool both currently utilizes one Toyota Prius in its fleet, which gets on average 60 MPG. In addition, all campus buses on the Bloomington Campus utilize a biodiesel fuel mix, called B20, which contains 20% soy biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel.
The Indiana University Motor Pool also recycles oil, antifreeze, and tires. They store the oil in a 500-gallon tank at the facility. When it is full, Crystal Clean comes and pumps out the oil from the tank. The tires are recycled by High-speed, $2 for small tires and $3 for larger tires. All underground tanks at the Motor Pool are double-walled and monitored for leaks at all times. |