BMUN Sustainability Blog

As the conference quickly approaches, we on the sustainability staff have been doing lots of things to prepare. We’re expecting record numbers of delegates this year – our current numbers stand around 1,600! Some of the big things we’ve been working on include:

*placing orders through the university for recycling and compost bins at each building on campus that we’ll be occupying

*obtaining discounts for sustainable restaurants located around the Berkeley campus

*making signs that will direct attendees to the nearest water fountains and recycling bins, as we’re making a big push to eliminate bottled water from the conference and improve our waste diversion efforts

*renting out projectors for resolutions (rather than mass-copying multiple resolutions for each committee)

*purchasing additional compostable materials for the advisor and secretariat lounges so that all of our food waste can be composted

World Centric is the local source of our biocompostable products – check out my previous blog on their services here. You’ll surely notice them next to the water stations in Pauley Ballroom, the big room in MLK where opening and closing ceremonies are held. Usually, compostable products are marked with a recycling symbol that has a zero on the inside, since the product is made to break down within 180 days of use in a composting facility. There’s also a newer symbol that’s been introduced in European products and may make its way to the US soon, which looks like a ribbon-loop with a leaf growing out of it (see the image to the left)

We’re working hard to make the 57th year of this conference BMUN’s most sustainable yet!

–Marie