Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions  -  March 12, 2025 - By Better Buildings

Case Study: UChicago Reduces Emissions, Increases Savings with Online Platform

To explore a more cost-effective way to improve existing waste reduction programs and reduce landfilled waste, the University of Chicago utilized an online sharing economy platform. This online reuse marketplace allows campus members to find, share, donate, and request free supplies and equipment across the University helping promote a circular economy, facilitate local reuse, and divert significant waste. Improving material efficiency, along with increased reuse and recycling, can lower the energy needed for waste transportation and treatment, resulting in savings on operating costs, energy consumption, and GHG emissions. To date, this program has achieved estimated embodied carbon avoidance through reuse at 19,912 kg eCO2 internally and 22,050 kg eCO2 in community donations. As of the end of January 2024, the marketplace recorded 87,600 lbs. in weight diverted from landfill, nearly $700,000 in value recaptured, and a 120.6k kg eCO2 avoided by opting not to purchase new assets.

 PROCESS
The Office of Sustainability at the University of Chicago identified that nearly 4% of the institution’s greenhouse gas emissions come from landfilled waste. To address this, they researched ways to enable University employees to creatively reuse products and recirculate University assets.

After the initial success of a platform used by the University research laboratories to exchange surplus assets internally for free, the decision was made to expand it, allowing all University employees and departments to participate. This expansion increased opportunities for waste reduction across campus.

To promote the platform, communication strategies were developed to increase awareness and participation among faculty, staff, and students. Users were able to list items like furniture and lab supplies, facilitating exchanges that reduced waste sent to landfills and improved fiscal responsibility. The platform allows users to post photos and descriptions of items and directly message each other to arrange exchanges, eliminating the need for facilities staff to mediate.

Key users of the platform include lab managers, space planners, departmental facility managers, and capital project managers. As items are recirculated, the platform tracks the value, weight, and embodied carbon savings based on individual submissions.

In addition to reducing waste on campus, unclaimed items are donated to local community organizations, extending the project’s sustainability impact. In June 2024, marketplace posters can opt to show their asset postings to a broader range of Chicagoland partners vetted by the University, further increasing the platform’s positive environmental contributions. An example of a great success with this was the winter 2024 placement of long locker bays in area public schools.

OUTREACH
The University engaged various stakeholders, including Senior Leadership in Central Procurement, the Office of Research Safety, and campus communicators, to garner support and promote the marketplace platform called UChicago Rheaply.

Regular communications through newsletters and campus news channels highlighted success stories and encouraged participation. Announcements on the staff Intranet helped onboard more users. In 2023, targeted outreach efforts demonstrated the platform's ease of use and benefits, significantly boosting user engagement.

The University of Chicago Campus Planning + Sustainability leadership added communications and engagement staff member to the team in 2023 and this person helps to promote the project and enhance communications and engagement.
In August of 2023, the University needed to decommission an asset storage warehouse and used the platform to redistribute over one hundred assets weighing 33,000 lbs. The event boosted popularity of the campus reuse option and was promoted through peer communications meetings, the Intranet, campus social media, and in newsletters and emails. 

The Pritzker School for Molecular Engineering had to relocate its administrative staff and some students to a swing space while the division awaits a new building to open. After a decision to prioritize spending on reconstruction instead of interior furnishings, the project team used the platform to help source most everything from the carpet tiles to the fixtures in the remodel. An example of how this project was promoted to the public can be found here.

A communications plan presented the platform to key stakeholders and increased buy-in—particularly project managers in Capital Project Delivery who oversee remodels and new construction, lab managers who oversee inventory and equipment, and procurement specialists who helped make the platform the preferred option on the University's online purchasing system.

Internal support came from Senior Leadership in Central Procurement and Payment Services; Office of Research Safety; and Campus Planning + Sustainability within Facilities Services.

• Procurement and Payment Services led the platform to address insurance and safety.
• Deans and campus communicators helped with outreach to their members.
• Internal Communications offered support and opportunities to educate their communicators about the project.
• Word of mouth from sustainability-minded members bolstered participation in the project.

MEASURING SUCCESS
The University of Chicago has an ambitious goal to reduce absolute GHG emissions 50% by 2030. Specific to waste reduction, in Area 4 of the Campus Sustainability Plan, the University set a goal to reduce the amount of total landfilled waste. In the most recent emissions inventory report, the University reported that since the baseline year of the GHG reduction goal, while physical space included in the greenhouse gas emissions inventory grew by over 17%, reduction efforts have enabled total GHG emissions to decrease by approximately 3%. The University is actively working to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its operations through numerous mechanisms, including energy efficiency projects, increased use of electric vehicles, and the pursuit of cost-effective renewable energy purchasing. Success on each area of the Sustainability Plan is reported at the end of each calendar year.

OUTCOMES
To date, the program's greatest success came in August 2023 when the University arranged for all assets stored in a warehouse near campus to be made available to the online platform and offered the items with free delivery. The event recaptured an estimated $85,000 worth of assets, recirculated into the campus and donated externally. This diverted 14,630 pounds internally and 16,415 pounds in community donations from the landfill. Additionally, it achieved estimated embodied carbon avoidance through reuse at 19,912 kg eCO₂ internally and 22,050 kg eCO₂ in community donations.

FINANCING
Estimated cost in terms of budget and staff:

The subscription costs $10,000-$25,000 annually. The contract began as a pilot program discounted to $10,000 annually and has matured to cost $25,000 annually. Staff time is not calculated in the model, but there are four University staff members on the platform core team, plus two designated account managers from the platform, who meet regularly.

PARTNERSHIPS
There is an active engaged team of representatives from the Office of Sustainability, the Office of Research Safety, Biological Sciences Division, Finance and Procurement, and Campus Planning that help to boost participation and savings of this project.

Donations benefiting the University community engagement target area, the surrounding six zip codes of Hyde Park, have included donations to Chicago Public Schools, churches, and social service nonprofits.

This column originally appeared on the Better Buildings website.

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