FGCU Leads the Way to a Green Tomorrow

A Caring Campus
The Florida Gulf Coast University campus has a total of 760 acres. In the future, the University will have 277 acres of restored wetlands, 23 acres of created wetlands and 121 acres of upland preserve. The balance of the 400 remaining acres, less the buildings and landscape, will be exotic free or enhanced, leaving only 20 acres under landscaped irrigation. The University is responsible, through Physical Plant, for managing and monitoring these wetlands to achieve compliance with the Corps of Engineers, Department of Environmental Protection and SFWMD requirements. The remaining acreage is landscaped and done so with natural, indigenous plant material. Of the landscaped acreage only 20 acres are under irrigation, which was done to achieve the aesthetic and architectural requirements in the University Master Plan. All work done on the wetlands and grounds is through contractual services with consultants and qualified private firms.

Tree Orphanage
The Grounds staff saves and transplants trees from slated construction zones. These trees are behind Howard Hall and next to Griffin Hall, and are the original orphans from various building sites over the last 12 years. This past year, 116 Sabal Palms, 8 Live Oaks and 2 Cypress trees were taken from the Biscayne Hall building site and relocated to various sites around the FGCU campus.

Transportation On and Off Campus
www.Ride2FGCU.com

Promoting sustainability is a priority of Florida Gulf Coast University. In order to support and encourage our employees to commute by an alternative to the single occupant vehicle, We are pleased to launch a new dedicated ridesharing solution designed to help you find commuting partners who work or study at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Florida Gulf Coast University Ride2FGCU RideMatch is a new dedicated ridesharing system for use only by Florida Gulf Coast University faculty, staff and students. Register today using your FGCU e-mail account to find a carpool partner or a walking, biking or transit buddy.

Fully secure, it will help you find ridesharing partners who work or study at FGCU. Register today to give it a try. No obligation and you can remove yourself from searches whenever you’re not actively looking for ridesharing partners.

RECYCLEMANIA
Florida Gulf Coast University will be participating in a national collegiate recycling competition for the first time this year. Recyclemania will allow FGCU to compete with hundreds of other universities across America. This will also allow us to establish a baseline for waste production at FGCU so that longitudinal data can be collected on waste production as our university grows.

The following locations are being designated as drop off points for the collection of used printer cartridges and old cell phones:

Griffin Hall:  144 – Mail/Copy room
Reed Hall:  225 – Storage
Library:  117 – Central Receiving
Howard Hall:  2nd floor break room
McTarnaghan Hall:  West Stairwell
Wellness Center:  Take to McTarnaghan Hall
Broadcast Building:  Mail/Copy room in back of building
Family Resource Center:  take to CSC or Whitaker Hall

For further information on other types of recycling, visit the Physical Plant webpage

Eagles Heart Tap Water
The "Eagles Heart Tap Water" campaign is being introduced on campus to promote the use of reusable water bottles and ultimately reduce plastic bottle waste across campus.  This campaign is not original to FGCU; ideas have been borrowed from other higher education institutions such as MIT, UC Berkley and the University of Vermont.
The tap water on campus at FGCU is completely safe to drink. FGCU pays thousands annually to bring clean, safe drinking water to campus. The tap water on campus is tested weekly and meets all county, state, and federal standards.  In fact, studies show that bottled water is no healthier than what is provided, tested, and managed by the Physical Plant.