Improving Material Circularity through Nicholas School Building Operations

Timeline

2025

Description

Affiliated Course

ENV 790.41 - Sustainable Operations and Supply Chains

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Summary

A team of four students partnered with the Nicholas School of the Environment (NSOE) Facilities team on a course-based project focused on standardizing building operations related to the management of office supplies, furniture, electronics, paper materials, and other items that are no longer needed or have been left behind by their original users. Managing these items (including moving, storing, relocating, or disposing of them) is often associated with the changeover of assigned office spaces for students and employees. Shared spaces on campus also tend to accumulate unclaimed equipment or personal items which require Facilities' attention to keep building spaces clutter free and safe for building occupants. The Facilities team sought proactive operational procedures to prevent the time-intensive and resource-intensive processes of identifying ownership and determining the appropriate handling of abandoned material items. 

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Project Goals

1. Document examples of frequently abandoned items and survey building constituents' experiences with material disposal needs.
2. Optimize communication with building constituents to clearly communicate official procedures, standards, and best practices for material requests (both removal and acquisition of material items).
3. Identify active ways to engage the Nicholas School community in reducing waste of office materials, preventing clutter in shared spaces, and increasing circular use of materials.

Experience and Learning Outcomes

The student team conducted interviews with Division Chairs and other senior leaders at NSOE to gain a better understanding of their expectations as related to the Facilities Team's role in assisting with the removal of unneeded items. The student team also conducted a site walk with the Facilities team to observe the current storage, disposal, and management processes for dealing with unused, unclaimed items left behind in shared spaces or vacated offices. Students used process tools to analyze the root causes of these challenges and developed useful deliverables and strategies to spread awareness about proper procedures for material reuse and removal in the Nicholas School. 

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Student Recommendations

1. Implement Check-In and Check-Out Procedures
   The students suggested an onboarding and offboarding checklist which requires building constituents to follow standard procedures such as clearing their office of personal items and submitting photos before returning their keys. This would likely increase accountability for personal waste management and prevent unused materials from being left behind in shared or assigned areas. Onboarding info might include timelines when constituents can request special furnishings beyond what is regularly provided to structure a systematic approach and set expectations for timely and reasonable requests.
2. Host Semesterly Recycling Days
   The students also recommended the idea of organizing recycling and material recovery events for building occupants to declutter their unwanted items on a semesterly basis and participate in circularity-based sustainability efforts. The student team created a mock flyer detailing accepted items, event dates, and drop-off locations for Facilities to use in future promotions.
3. Update New Faculty Orientation Materials
   To increase awareness of move-out procedures and expectations, the students outlined a new section to include in faculty orientation and onboarding materials aimed at standardizing processes for making material related requests. Ideally, this addition will promote a culture of waste reduction in the school through appropriate material management. Similar orientation materials can be adapted for staff and student audiences.
4. Clarify Services Offered by Facilities
   To socialize helpful contacts, the students developed a flyer to post around the school introducing the Facilities support staff. The intent was to clarify the typical services offered by the NSOE Facilities team versus other service teams on campus and who to contact for specific needs. Additionally, the students outlined a draft section to add to the NSOE intranet to specify Facilities related procedures that NSOE constituents can reference as needed.

Students 

Rosie Khan, Lalie Marie, Rochelle Martin, Shraddha Sharma

Clients

Dan Roberts, Building & Lab Operations Manager (Nicholas School of the Environment); Tom Brooks, Building Coordinator (Nicholas School of the Environment)

Other stakeholders

 Shannon Parker, course instructor (Nicholas School of the Environment)