Sustainable Living Guide

Quinnipiac is currently monitoring waste, electricity, water and recycling across the three campuses, with the goal of reducing university output. Quinnipiac is a member of AASHE STARS, a global sustainability standard created by and for higher education. Gathering usage data from campus for our STARS reports helps the university track environmental baselines, and targets and compares progress with other universities. These sustainability reports are open to the public.

Find Quinnipiac's STARS report here

Students can follow these waste reduction tips:

1. Turn lights off when you leave your dorm or shared common rooms

2. Keep showers short and turn off the tap while you brush your teeth

3. Wash full loads of clothing on cold because 90% of the energy used by washing machines is for heating the water

4. Print documents only when necessary

The United States discards more food than any other country, wasting approximately 30-40% of its food supply. College campuses waste 22 million pounds of food annually. Landfills are composed primarily of food waste and when rotting food waste is trapped without oxygen, methane is produced which is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Landfills are the third largest source of methane emissions in the United States.

Students can make an effort to avoid throwing away food by:

1. Using reusable plates, utensils and to-go containers in the dining halls

2. Eating from the plant-based station in the dining hall as often as possible (recommended three days per week)

3. Refilling your water bottle instead of using plastic bottles at one of the many touchless stations around our three campuses

4. Using washable food containers that can be reused rather than disposable to-go containers

5. Buying locally sourced foods from local farmer's markets or farms

6. Avoiding buying too much food and wasting un-eaten food

7. When picking up food, use re-usable bags rather than plastic bags

Check out some local restaurants that use sustainable food practices:

• Claire's Corner Copia (New Haven) - vegetarian

• CitySeed Farmer's Markets (Downtown New Haven and Wooster Square)

• Harvest (New Haven) - American restaurant serving local and organic food

• Heirloom (New Haven) - Farm-to-table restaurant featuring menu items from local sources

• Fresh Greens and Proteins (Hamden) - Fast casual salads, bowls, smoothies and wraps

• Junzi (New Haven) - Chinese-American cuisine with several seasonal vegetable-focuses options

Fast fashion refers to a design, manufacturing and marketing method that rapidly provides high volumes of clothing. While fast fashion produces clothes at a low cost for consumers, it comes at a high cost for the environment. The fashion industry uses an unsustainably large amount of water. For example, the World Wildlife Fund estimates that it takes 2,700 liters of water to produce just one cotton shirt — enough water to sustain one person for 900 days. Fast fashion is designed to keep up with rapidly changing trends, resulting in poorly made clothing that often ends up discarded in landfills, producing 92 million tons of textile waste each year.

Avoid purchasing fast fashion by thrifting clothes. Buying second-hand clothes extends their lifetime, preventing clothing from entering directly into landfills. Essentially, thrifting applies the principle of "reduce, reuse, recycle" to clothing.

Check out some local thrift stores near Hamden:

• Goodwill

  • 2369 Dixwell Ave., Hamden, CT 06514

  • 935 S Main St., Cheshire, CT 06140

  • 1145 N Colony Rd., Wallingford, CT 06492

• Uptown Consignment

  • 4137 Whitney Ave., Hamden, CT 06518

• Plato's Closet

  • 2335 Dixwell Ave., Hamden, CT 06514

In the United States, transportation produces the most greenhouse gas emissions of any sector. More than half of the transport emissions come from passenger cars, pickup trucks and minivans. Furthermore, parking is limited at Quinnipiac.

Before getting in the car, ask yourself, "Do I need to drive there?"

Here are a few tips to reduce the use of cars on campus:

1. Take advantage of Quinnipiac's free shuttle service that connects you to all three campuses, as well as shopping and dining in Hamden and North Haven, and downtown and the train station in New Haven.

   See the full shuttle schedule and down the app to track the shuttles

2. Bikes and scooters are a green way to get around (don't forget to wear a helmet).

3. Try to arrange carpooling with friends and neighbors to reduce transit emissions and the number of cars on campus.

4. The Recreation and Wellness Center offers priority charging stations for electric vehicles.