Rachel SkinnerThe UK Sustainable Office Certification (SOC) Program is the newest addition to sustainability programming at the University of Kentucky. The program recently launched on August 1st, 2024 and will be certifying its first cohort of offices this fall. Developed in collaboration with local environmental nonprofit, Bluegrass Greensource (BGGS), the program aims to improve everyday office practices and encourage contribution to greater university-wide sustainability goals.
Who Can Apply?
The program has been developed for an office space that houses 5 or more employees who work at least 50% of their time in person in the office.
Points-Based Certification
UK Sustainability, UK Recycling, and BGGS have worked diligently to develop and implement a scorecard that assesses the practices of each participating office in the following categories: Zero-Waste, Energy, Purchasing, Water, Travel & Transportation, Green Events, and Innovation. Within each category, there is a list of sustainability-based initiatives that align with the sustainability objectives around UK’s campus. The effort and impact of each of these initiatives has been weighed and assigned a point value. Completed scorecard items will earn the office points and their total score will be indicative of their level of achievement and recognition. Below are the four levels you can achieve based on your scorecard.
Wildcat Paw: 80-100% of available points
Gold Paw: 65-79% of available points
Silver Paw: 50-64% of available points
Bronze Paw: 10-49% of available points
Getting Involved
Is your office interested in becoming SOC Program certified? Take the first step and fill out our online interest indicator here. The interest form will prompt a meeting with UK Recycling and BGGS to conduct an initial scorecard assessment. Prior to this meeting, it is important that you identify your office’s Sustainability Ambassador. This will be your office lead, or the person who meets with UK Recycling and BGGS, communicates the program needs and requirements with their office, and helps guide change in the areas they wish to improve upon. This person will receive special recognition in addition to the entire office’s recognition for completing the program.
Prior to the SOCP launch, 5 offices piloted and completed the program. One pilot participant, the office of Center for Student Success Advising, achieved a Gold Paw status! The office’s Sustainability Ambassador, Esther Fleming, reflects on her experience stating, “The Sustainable Office Certification Program gave us a chance to review our office suite’s sustainability. With the assistance of [Rachel Skinner, Bluegrass Greensource, and Ryan Lark, UK Recycling], we were able to implement a few new practices. One such practice was using the water hydration station to reduce the use of plastic water bottles during our fall welcome event. I appreciated the conversations we had with Rachel and Ryan. They were able to give us a better understanding of ways to reduce waste and helped us improve our suite’s sustainability.”
Upcoming Events
If you are interested in learning more and participating in the SOC Program, register for one of our virtual information sessions using the following links! The first session will take place on August 8th, 2024 at 12pm via Zoom. The second session will take place on August 22nd, 2024 at 12pm via Zoom. Join us to learn more about program details, how you can get involved, and the many benefits of being SOCP certified! Visit our website to learn more.
