Sustainability Staff with Danny the Dolphin at Daylight Hour 2023
Yoga at the Daylight Hour 2023
Composting Workshop with Liverpool students
Natalia Gives a Thumbs Up to Campus Cleanup 2019
How to Grow Plants from Cuttings Workshop at the Greenhouse
Composting Workshop at 1C
Clothing Bin Drop Box delivery
Don't Trash My Future Bottle Drive
Japanese Knowtweed Eradication Project
Energy Competition at Dolphin Cove
Natalia at Campus CleanUp 2019
International Sunflower Day 2023
students at the Flower Ball 2023
Timothy at the How to Grow Plants for Cuttings Workshop 2023
How to Grow Plants from Cuttings 2023
Composting Workshop with Compost and Leaf Bag Giveaway
Books at the Stop N Swap event 2022
Children Clothing and Toys at the 2022 Stop N Swap
Willowbrook Mums Sale
Plant Sale with Garden Club 2023
Sustainability Events
Stop 'N' Swap
GrowNYC program has recycling events called Stop 'N' Swap® where people bring their unwanted clean, reusable, portable items such as clothing, housewares, games, books, & toys and take home something new, for free. CSI Sustainability began hosting one of these events twice the year right here on campus!
2019:On May 4th CSI Sustainbility in partnership with Sustainable Student Organization hosted the very first Stop and Swap at CSI.The event took place at 1C.
On December 14th, CSI Sustainability hosted a Stop 'N' Swap event for the CSI & Staten Island community. Stop 'N' Swap’s mission is to reduce, reuse, and recycle common household items such as, games, books, clothes, & toys for others in need. At the Swap 142 people attended donating 2872 pounds of stuff and 80% of this stuff was taken back by the community on the same day.
2022: On May 7th, CSI welcomed 60 people to our Stop 'N' Swap event. The total intake for
the day was 1,171.5 pounds. There were 587 pounds remaining, which included textile recycling and contraband. The leftover items were donated to a local Salvation Army, meaning we diverted over 1,000 lbs. of items from reaching landfills.
On December 3rd we took in 1,376.5 lbs worth of items and were only left with 477 lbs of usable items! All of which were donated to the Salvation Army. The rest was recycled. We had 97 people in attendance. All numbers were up from last year!
2023: On December 12th, CSI hosted Stop 'N' Swap in a new location in building 1P. The total intake was 2938.5 pounds, the highest ever. After the event, we left with only 731.5 pounds of textiles which were placed in our textile recycling bins on campus while other items were donated to the local Salvation Army. This means we diverted over 2207 lbs of items from going to the landfill. That is more than 75% diversion! Our attendance reached 140 people, one of the highest in our history of Stop 'N' Swap at CSI.
2024: On December 7th, CSI SWAP was held at building 1P. This was the first time that CSI hosted its own swap. The community dropped off 2500.04 lbs of donations. After the event, we had only 607.8 lbs of goods left, which brings us to a 75.69% diversion rate from the landfill. In addition, we also donated 50.7 lbs of clothing to Wearable Collections, their bins are located on our campus. This brings us to the highest diversion rate of 77.72%. It was hard to keep track of the visitors, we had over 100 people visiting the swap.
Arbor Day
2019: On May 3rd, CSI's Conservation and Humanity class partnered with at CSI Sustainability to plant trees along the baseball field between the dorms and 3N Building.
2020: On April 24th, we celebrated Arbor Day virtually. We encouraged students and staff to post a photo of a tree while they are planting it or a tree that has caught their eyes.
2021: April 30th, CSI Sustainability in partnership with CSI Athletics planted 150 trees around the baseball field. In addition, we asked people to participate virtually by taking photos of their favorite tree or the one they just planted.
2022: On April 29th, tree planting: We are proud to continue our Arbor Day tradition of planting trees. This year marked the 150th year since Arbor Day began. Students planted trees and bushes in front of the baseball field.
2023: April 28th, more than 20 students from CSI and Lifestyles for the Disabled came together as a community and make Arbor Day tree planting possible by planting 19 trees around CSI's athletic fields.
2024: This year's Arbor Day was celebrated early on April 19th due to CSI's Spring Break. Over 40 volunteers came to plant 23 trees, many of them from Nicotra Early Prep Charter School, on the parking median in parking lot 1. The median was chosen to help CSI reduce the number of Urban Heat Island Spots on campus.
These Arbor Day events were possible by a partnership with NYC Arbor Day Committee, John Bowne HS, Grow-Out Nursery, CSI Athletics, Facilities and Operations.
Bag Drive
2017: College of Staten Island Sustainability hosted an Earth Day celebration. This event taught students about the history of Earth Day, its importance, how students can contribute to sustainability projects on campus, and learn about the winners of the CUNY Sustainability Competition. Students also got the opportunity to experience the proposed Staten Island Aerial Gondola.
2019: CSI's first recycle week was filled with various events to help promote recycling. It started with the Plastic bag drive and leaf bag giveaway. Then continued with a bottle and clothing drive. The Sustainable Student Organization (SSO) collected 1321 plastic bags and handed out 500 leaf bags to reduce the amount of plastic found in landfills and add an alternative to disposing of leaf waste.
2020: We partnered with DSNY and gave away 200 reusable shopping bags within 45 minutes into the event. This event was held on February 25th prior to the NYS single use plastic bag ban on March 1st.
2021: Upon returning to campus, we hosted "We got your bags!" event outside 1C. We distributed 75 leaf bags in order to encourage residents of Staten Island to collect their leaves for residential pick up in these bags rather than putting them in plastic bags. In addition, we gave away 300 reusable plastic bags.
2022: The annual Bag drive took place on April 25th. Students and staff members were encouraged to bring their plastic bags so it can be recycled. In exchange, they could get a reusable bag sponsored by the DSNY. We succeeded by collecting 1,234 plastic bags and we gave away 37 reusable bags.
Bottle Drive
CSI Sustainability with the Sustainable Student Organization (SSO) has launched a Bottle Drive Pilot in 1R with the Athletic Department. The collaboration has collected and sorted over 10,000 bottles. The Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program has been a significant contributor to sorting the bottles and holding weekly tabling events to educate the student population about the importance of recycling. The goal is to replace existing water fountains with water bottle filling stations to help reduce the number of bottles on campus.
From November 2018 to November 2019, CSI Sustainability collected, sorted, and redeemed 23,000 cans & bottles from 1R & the dorms. Bottles were sorted and collected with the help of the Melissa Reggio Higher Education Program students every Friday at building 2M. This would not have been possible without the support of Buildings & Grounds staff who assisted with transporting the bottles.
As of October 2022, we have collected 32,442 bottles on campus. We redeemed 23,247 bottles which raised $1,162.35.
2023: Bottle Drive resumed in December 11th. We decided to focus on one building, 1 R. This is CSI's Athletic building, one of the highest bottle generator building due to the number of events and athletics teams hosted here. Just one month 3.542 bottles were collected here thanks to our vigorous sorting by our costudial staff and our dedicated Melissa Reggio students.
2024: In the Spring semester we added building 1C to the Bottle Drive. In just 5 months we sorted 10,364 bottles and cans, redeemed 5,505 bottles and cans. We raised $272.25 from just 2 buildings on campus.
Funds from pre-COVID and post COVID sorting allowed us to purchase 4 new bottle shaped recycling bins for building 1 R. Since this building was identified as the highest bottle generator building in our campus this is where we can imporve our diversion rate the most. This building now served by 7 bins. These bins will help our students to make a difference in the college's stand for a more sustainable future.
Campus Clean Up
CSI Sustainability and Sustainable Student Organization (SSO) in partnership with Facilities Management and Operational Services organized campus clean-up twice a year.
2019: On April 4th, the SSO hosted their first campus clean-up in partnering with other clubs such as IBS, The Banner, NYPIRG, GSA, and the Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program students. Students picked up over 25 bags of trash across the grounds of CSI.
October 15th, SSO hosted their second campus clean-up in partnership with AHRCNYC Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program, The Banner, NYPIRG, Women's Soccer, Track and Field, Men's Soccer, and The Garden Club. Students picked up over 14 bags of trash from across the grounds at the CSI campus.
2022: On April 14th, the campus joined us for the return of our semi-annual Campus Clean-Up. The goal was to collect as much garbage as possible on campus. In just 2 hours 25 bags of garbage were collected on the Great Lawn and along Loop Road.
October 13th, 25 CSI students from Creative Exchange, Verrazzano Honors, joined the second Campus Cleanup. Once again, in just 2 hours, 20 bags of garbage were collected on the Great Lawn and along Loop Road.
2023: On April 20th, CSI Sustainability hosted their annual campus clean-up event. Staff and students from several clubs and programs from CSI gather together at 1P and picked up trash along Alumni Walk between 1P and 1L. During the 2 hours event, they were only able to fill out one bag with garbage. GOOD JOB DOLPHINS FOR KEEPING CSI CLEAN!
2023: On October 6th, CSI Sustainability in partnership with Staten Island Chamber of Commerce hosted the Sweep Up Staten Island event to helped beautify our community. Our campus staff, students, and Staten Island residents, gathered to clean up the Willowbrook neighborhood and part of the CSI campus.
Campus Race for Zero Waste
| Weeks | Trash | Paper | Compost | Recycling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 18,000 | 3,558.4 | 45 | 346.5 |
| Week 2 | 18,000 | 2,258.75 | 36 | 346.5 |
| Week 3 | 18,000 | 973 | 60 | 138.6 |
| Week 4 | 18,000 | 4,309 | 55 | 180.18 |
| Week 5 | 18,000 | 6,394 | 60 | 55.44 |
| Week 6 | 18,000 | 1,946 | 75 | 48.51 |
| Week 7 | 18,000 | 5,282 | 80 | 110.88 |
| Week 8 | 18,000 | 4,448 | 80 | 83.16 |
Composting
2017: Starting in 2017, CSI Sustainability in partnership with Snug Harbor NYC Compost Project, began hosting annual compost workshops on campus to teach students how to compost, what to compost and how to maintain the compost bins.
2018: CSI Sustainability hosted a second NYC Compost Workshop. Representatives from the Snug Harbor Botanical Garden (Carol Hooper and Olivia Golden) came to teach students about how to compost and had a hands-on demonstration with how it’s done. Snug Harbor donated 2 composters which the students built and filled with 300 lbs. of pre-consumer food scraps from our Dining Services. Leaves from our campus grounds, and wood chips from DSNY were added to the compost bins.
2019: On November 19th the Sustainable Student Organization hosted a Compost Workshop to teach students an alternative for food waste than a landfill. Student bought their own food scraps from home and mixed them with leaves from our campus grounds and woodchips.
NY1 Composting for the Future:
2022: Dining Services began composting pre-consumer waste during COVID. CSI Sustainability took on composting once we returned to campus in the spring. Since March we have been composting all the pre-consumer waste on campus. 5 composters operating on campus to keep up with the demand. Our student volunteers process 80+ pounds of pre-consumer waste from Dining Services weekly.
We held 2 composting workshop on zoom during the spring semester due to COVID regulations.
Composter Building day was on May 6th - Students assembled a new composter donated by the NYC Compost Project to help manage the increased amount of pre-consumer waste.
Composting at 1C on June 30th with Melissa Reggio Higher Education Program students. Read more about it: CSI Sustainability and MRHEP Team Up for Campus Composting Initiative
On November 3rd, a Composting workshop and DSNY Leaf Bag Giveaway was held at 1C. Snug Harbor Compost project donated compost for indoor use and 500 leaf bags in preparation for the NYC wide leaf pickup program. Around 19 students and staff attended and helped process pre-consumer waste from our Dining Services. We gave away small bags of compost and 105 leaf bags.
2023: During a year we decided to host monthly compost workshop in order to process our increased amount of food scraps generated by Dining Services. Since our student population continues to increase and we have more food to process, we are able to teach more people about the importance of composting. Our weekly compost drop of is a success as well, we have regulars who bring us food scraps on the weekly bases.
Daylight Hour
Dayligth Hour is the annual social media camping promotes the use of natural daylight between the hours of 12 PM and 1 PM instead of electrical lighting in office space. Daylight in the workplace contributes to a myriad of benefits for occupants. People are encouraged to turn off their workplace lighting and celebrate the benefits of daylight.
2017: CSI participated in Daylight Hour on June 16th for the first time. Some of the few ways the CSI community reduced its energy consumption are by turning off ceiling lights with sufficient natural light, taking your lunch break from 12-1 pm & turning off everything, and meeting our team on the Great Lawn to raise awareness about our commitment to creating sustainable change.
2018: CSI participated, in the Daylight Hour. As compared with last year's past, we aggressively promoted the event via social media, campus-wide emails, posted flyers, and other means of getting the word out. We had the full support and participation of the President's Cabinet along with several of the campus community. This media campaign yielded exceptional results as can be seen in the juxtaposing trends from 2017 and 2018. During the daylight hour, it is estimated that CSI saved approximately 144 kWh of energy.
CSI Sustainability Received the 2018 “Hype Master” Big Kahuna Award! The Hype Master Award goes to the College of Staten Island Sustainability Initiative for spreading the word!
2019: On June 21st from 12-1 pm, CSI Sustainability hosted our 2nd annual daylight hour event, where we invited departments to reduce their electricity consumption.
We built a gigantic origami for the paper engineering competition that was folded with the help of the Melissa Riggio students at our event.
CSI received the 2019 Social Butterfly Award for being the Paper Engineer Pros of Daylight Hour.
Here is a video from our event. Shining the light on Sustainability: The Daylight Hour at CSI
2020: This year Daylight Hour was celebrated virtually. We encouraged participants to take a picture of their home office with pets or kids, scenic view from their home office window or to show their creative use of daylight in their home office.
2021: Once again Daylight Hour was celebrated virtually. We asked participants to take a picture of their home office using only daylight. We welcomed Family and Pets on these photos.
2022: Daylight Hour Hybrid Edition. We asked CSI Students/Faculty and Staff to show us their creative use of daylight in their home or work office.
CSI Sustainability received an award for the 3rd time! WFH: Working From Home award for the participation of the Daylight Hour social media campaign in 2022.
2023: On June 21st, CSI participated in Daylight Hour at the West Fountain (turned yellow for the event) to enjoy the natural light. From 12-1 PM students from the Melissa Reggio Higher Education Program, faculty and staff participated in different activities such as Daylight Hour art, games, class with Danny the Dolphin, and Yoga (Sun Salutation Flow). Once again CSI won the Daylight Hour Spirit award for going above and beyond celebrating energy efficiency
2024: On June 20th 2024, CSI celebrated Daylight Hour on the Great Lawn, in the heat wave. Over 40 participants left their office/ classroom and enjoyed activities like Daylight Hour Bingo, Origami and coloring pages. Yellow and orange snacks were provided by CSI's Dining Sevices. Danny the Dolphin was of course with us but couldn't stay long due to the extreme heat. DAYLIGHT HOUR 2024 RINGS IN THE SUMMER AT CSI
Plant Sale
2018: The College of Staten Island Sustainability (CSI Sustainability) hosted its first ever plant sale after gaining access to the CSI Greenhouse and growing plants there. Sustainable Student Organization (SSO) club members planted over 700 organic seeds at the 6 S greenhouse last semester. SSO provided opportunities for students to participate in experiential learning, development of interpersonal and gardening skills, and gain access to fresh produce. SSO members gaining practical knowledge from Biology faculty about planting, producing food and managing natural resources. The money that was made from the plant sale went to help clean up the garden by 6S.
2019: Once again, in February SSO co-hosted a Plant and bake sale with the International Business Society Club. IBS sold baked goods and the SSO sold plants grown in the Greenhouse. Proceeds from plant sales went towards revitalizing the campus while bake sale proceeds went to UNICEF.
2020: A collection of plants and flowers grown in our on-campus greenhouse are sold at the base of 6S. The sales are usually themed with the season or holiday and help keep our restoration as well as botany programs alive. All of the funds raised at these sales go back into our biodiversity area as well as our collaborative greenhouse space.
2022: On April 11th, Plant Sale and Compost Givebackas was part of our Earth Month activities. The plant sale was combined with our annual Compost Giveback event. We partnered with Snug Harbor Compost Project and distributed 100 bags of compost to our gardeners.
On September 20th, CSI Sustainability hosted the Willowbook Plant Sale. Proceeds from the plant sale were donated to support the Willowbrook Legacy Project.
2023: CSI Sustainability continued with its monthly plant sale. Member of the newly formed Garden Club have been volunteering to help with plant sales and other events.
Greenhouse
In Spring 2017, CSI Sustainability Office and the newly formed Sustainable Student Organization (SSO) club members planted over 700 organic seeds at the 6S greenhouse. SSO provided opportunities for students to participate in experiential learning, development of interpersonal and gardening skills, and gain access to fresh produce.
SSO members gaining practical knowledge from Biology faculty about planting, producing food and managing natural resources. Additionally, students promoted sustainability through plants sales to the College of Staten Island community and begin to build a strong social network with other academic departments.
The Sustainable Student Organization continued to grow more plants in the Greenhouse in the 2018 winter semester and hosted a Holiday Plant Sale where students and faculty were able to purchase indoor house plants for the first time.
Today, CSI Sustainability provides opportunities for students to participate in the greenhouse in experiential learning, development of interpersonal and gardening skills, and gain access to fresh produce. Additionally, students promoted sustainability through plant sales to the College of the Staten Island community and begin to build a strong social network with other academic departments.
On January 26, 2023, CSI SUSTAINABILITY KICKS OFF SEMESTER WITH SUCCESSFUL PLANTING EVENT. More than 30 students and staff gathered in the greenhouse to learn the process of how to plant seeds from scratch. This workshop focused on planting herbs.
On February 23, 2023, CSI Sustainability hosted the second workshop where student could learn how to grow plats from tulips bulbs. This event took place in the greenhouse where students received hands on training. Students as well as the community took part in this event to promote sustainability, education, and awareness.
On March 23, 2023, CSI Sustainability hosted the Third workshop Lab in the greenhouse. During the workshop, students learn how to grow plants from cuttings. Some of the plants were Jade, Kalanchoe, and Citronella.
6S Garden
In the spring of 2017, CSI Sustainability in partnership with the Sustainable Student Organization (SSO) Club and CSI students came together to clean up the 6S garden. The process took months, students took out the roots of Japanese Knotweed by hand some of them over 6 feet long.
Japanese Knotweed Eradication Project. This clean-up was made possible by College of Staten Island Sustainability, the Department of Biology, and the hard work of the Sustainable Student Organization (SSO). Japanese Knotweed is an invasive non-native plant that invaded the 6S pit area. During the spring and summer semester students cut down the Japanese Knotweed and dug out as many roots out as possible. They covered the ground completely with tarps in order to smother the weed underneath. The tarp prevents the sunlight to penetrate the area and new weed to grow back. They covered the tarps with mulch to make it more attractive.
In addition, students also stared a garden. They constructed raised gardening beds and learned about vegetable and flower life cycles. With Snug Harbor’s compost, they rotated crops for mineral and natural resource optimization. SSO plans to expand the garden next semester and educate the community about local food systems and provide awareness and availability of healthy foods.
Also, students gained hands on knowledge on how to transplants seedlings and how to propagate and take care of different types of vegetables, herbs and flowers. They transplanted seedlings from the greenhouse into raised beds in the garden. CSI Sustainability hosts annually clean up events in the 6S garden to maintain this areas.
Special thanks to Biology Chair Chang-HuiShen, Faiza Peetz, James Saccardo, Kinnea Keating,Grozdena Yilmaz & the Pre-Med students.
Students holding a Japaneese Knotweed root
Students cleaning up the 6S garden
Natalia at 6S garden
