Planet Blue Recycles!

Planet Blue is part of the new campus-wide Environmental and Energy Initiative focused on conserving utilities and increasing recycling. Planet Blue’s mission is to:

Actively engage the University of Michigan community to conserve utilities and increase recycling thereby saving money and benefiting the environment.

Planet Blue is part of the Environmental and Energy Initiative (EEI). The EEI is a six-point initiative that seeks to make the campus more sustainable in the wake of rising energy costs, climate change concerns, and depleting resources. Planet Blue focuses on reducing consumption in campus buildings by actively engaging faculty, staff and students in the process. Historically, most of the energy conservation was done behind the walls and above the ceilings on a non-interference basis. Now, the effort is open to the University community and encourages people to take an active role.

The Recycling Program is partnering with Planet Blue to help increase recycling presence and capabilities in campus buildings. UM Recycling conducts walk-throughs in each building to determine whether an adequate number of recycling bins are available and if they are in appropriate locations. Planet Blue also works with the Recycling Program to add new bins or re-label old mislabeled bins. The Recycling program is always available as a resource for Planet Blue building staff/occupants when they have specific questions about recycling.

The building by building effort is designed to thoroughly examine the energy usage and behaviors in the buildings so that building systems can be tuned to match occupant use. This process has also revealed many potential energy conservation measures that have been implemented such as occupancy sensing lighting, low flow aerators, and fan scheduling.

Learn more about Planet Blue at www.planetblue.umich.edu.