Through Zero Waste at ASU, the Villas & Vista del Sol Community Compost Program (VVDS CCP) has been in operation for three years. Programs such as this one have been identified as a priority by the university due to the significance of food waste in the waste stream ASU produces and the opportunity to reduce climate impact by diverting this waste from landfill. However, the CCP has struggled to reach its participation targets throughout its time in operation and therefore ASU requires better understanding of marketing strategies that will lead to program success before investing in additional residential compost programs. This thesis addresses the fundamental question: What marketing and operational strategies are most effective within a residential composting program at Arizona State University? Using a combination of literature review, qualitative primary research, and experimentation, this thesis provides an explanation of how the university can effectively implement and grow residential composting programs.

This thesis is exploring the potential disconnect between the operational and cultural parts in the making of sustainability at Arizona State University (ASU) to find the disconnect in operational goals, student engagement, and thus student behavior in building sustainability at the university. To do so, I compare and contrast how ASU, Northern Arizona University (NAU), and the University of Arizona (UA) define, create, and demonstrate sustainability in their university’s culture and campus engagement programs. I first define what “culture” is in this study to provide context on how the word is being applied. Next, I assess how culture is reflected in the mission, vision, and/or goals of each university to set the tone for how the university intends to shape the culture of student experience through its services, as well as provide context where sustainability concepts may fit within. Then I assess what sustainability is demonstrated and defined as at each university. To thread each of these components together, I compare and contrast campus sustainability engagement programs at ASU, NAU, and UA based on the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) reports produced by The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE), as engagement programs are a reflection of the university’s vision, goals, and values brought from theory to practice. My findings are demonstrated in the form of a policy analysis, followed by recommendations on closing the gap where engagement programs and opportunities are potentially missing. These recommendations are intended to advance a stronger culture of sustainability on campus at ASU.

There has been a clear distance between Greek life and sustainability goals on college campuses for years. One such reason for this issue is that students in Greek life do not have a formalized way of getting involved in sustainability with a group of like-minded individuals. This project seeks to bridge the gap between two groups (sustainability groups, and Greek life) who rarely end up collaborating. We decided to create a two part framework for starting an on campus organization that can be used to connect Greek Life and sustainability at any college across the United States. Our main methodology was recording our actions and resources over the course of two years of creating this organization from scratch. In addition to this, we created data driven results by conducting surveys to gain feedback and knowledge on opportunities for optimization of our organization. Finally, we travelled to University of Texas at Austin to compare our club’s similarities and differences, and optimize using our shared knowledge of Green Greeks. As a result of our research we have created a two part framework consisting of written analysis which contains best practices for this club as well as a corresponding cloud based information drive that contains a systematic approach to starting a successful organization on a college campus. The main implication of this project is to create a network of Green Greeks clubs across the U.S. University system so that Greek students can make incremental changes to their lives to help improve campus sustainability.

As an AASHE Gold university, ASU engages its students, with varying success in adopting sustainable behaviors. The Susty Games pilot project was developed to make the adoption process both interesting and engaging for students. The project goal was to increase sustainable behaviors in ASU students’ daily lifestyles by demystifying and familiarizing them with such behaviors. Familiarization occurred by getting students out and into their communities practicing eight specific behaviors that reflect ASU’s Sustainability Operations focus areas: climate neutrality, zero waste, active engagement, and principled practice. The project subject was ASU students because human, incentive, and support resources are readily available and attainable to students. The main system complexities were marketing to potential participants and engaging game players throughout the duration of the game. Indicators of success were the number of new behaviors introduced to each participant by the game, and number of behaviors participants will repeat after the game.