Greener on Paper? How Committed is Rutgers–Camden to Sustainability

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Across the nation, colleges are ramping up sustainability efforts—installing solar panels, cutting waste, and rethinking energy use. At Rutgers–Camden, that same momentum is driving a campuswide push to clarify what “going green” really looks like in practice.

What The University Has Implemented

In 2021, Rutgers created a university-wide “Climate Action Plan,” with the primary goals of cutting emissions almost in half by 2030 and total carbon neutrality by 2040. As an initiative born from the New Brunswick campus, one may ask how much of it reaches Camden?

Here in Camden, there is the Climate Action Group whose mission is to “build and promote a culture of sustainability” at the university.

Dr. Richard Michaelfelder is the co-chair of the organization and passionately defines the group’s work. He explains, “Sustainability is a very major initiative on the Camden campus, and it didn’t start yesterday. We’ve hosted five national conferences on sustainability over the past five years, bringing together everyone from NASA climate scientists to state senators.”

There is also a sustainability curriculum available at the university through the Rutgers MBS department, but this only appears to be available at New Brunswick or Newark. At Camden, there are related courses offered through the Urban Studies program, which actively promotes that “course subjects include how cities are planned, population trends, and urban policy issues like housing, sustainability, and environmental justice.”

How Green is Campus Life?

One of the most popular places on campus is the dining hall, and between potential food waste and single-use items, it can lead to a lot of sustainability issues. Back in 2014, Rutgers–Camden went trayless, sharing that this alone would reduce food waste by 20%. How much more has improved in the past 11 years?

RU has also shared the Dining Services’ four “Planet Priorities:” source sustainably, minimize food waste, embed circularity, and operate efficiently.

These are certainly a good jumping off point but do they go beyond nice bullet points to include on a brochure? There isn’t a great deal of data detailing Rutgers–Camden specifically, a majority of up-to-date information relates to New Brunswick.

Graduate student Alex Karaivanov, who lives on campus, shared, “I don’t think the school promotes any sustainability well.”

While the dining hall shares that it wants to minimize food waste, Karaivanov mentions,“they discourage taking food home with you, I don’t even think you’re allowed to bring to-go containers. I saw signs last semester that specifically told you not to. So you just throw any unfinished food away.”

As far as on-campus living goes, recycling services are available in dormitories. There is also a decent amount of information online regarding FAQ’s specifically having to do with recycling, but how many students have known to look?

Karaivanov almost mentioned, “All I’ve seen is scattered recycling bins around campus that are easy to ignore…I try to recycle but it is confusing to know what to recycle and what to not, I can’t lie.”

So is RU Sustainable or Not?

Ultimately, the answer is both. There have been significant strides on the university’s part but how much of it feels adequately connected to student life? If someone doesn’t have a special interest in the topic initially, it’s hard to say just how much all this information would reach them.

Michelfelder acknowledges this, “If you’re not directly involved, it’s easy to miss what’s happening. Rutgers does a lot, but we’re not always great at telling our own story.”

In a university as large as Rutgers, there is an expansive opportunity to become a model of sustainability. And it’s important to recognize the efforts that faculty and student organizations have been taking. In offering concrete data, raising student awareness and truly pushing past simple opportunities for PR (ie. trayless cafeterias), the school truly can go green.