Sustainable Transition

Sustainable Development Goals Impacted

Project

The University of Celaya, as part of the actions it is currently taking to stimulate change and generate compliance with the objectives of sustainable development, has been updating and modifying its physical educational infrastructure to have less impact on the environment. 

Water scarcity is an existing problem in the city of Celaya, Guanajuato, the geographical area where the university is located, so actions and changes have been generated focused on improving the management and use of this resource. One of the main actions implemented has been the complete modification of the university's professional-size soccer field, where the conventional grass has been replaced by synthetic turf, thus eliminating water consumption. Similarly, the university has been replacing the common urinals that use water with new ones that save 100% of water consumption as they are dry urinals. 

With regard to waste, the university has an internal plan for collecting obsolete batteries and computer equipment, where through proper management, such waste is delivered to the municipality of the city of Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico, which is responsible for treating it appropriately. In addition, the university separates organic and inorganic waste and, through a local company, separates and treats the waste for reuse or recycling. Plastic and glass waste is recycled and organic and grass waste from lawn and tree trimming is reused as compost. In addition, the university has a paperless policy; all paper use has been replaced by electronic documents. There is also a recycled paper collection program, run by the university library, in which paper for recycling is exchanged for books with a local bookstore.

On the energy side, the university has opted to replace all classroom lights with LED lamps, installed solar-powered LED lamps outside, and integrated solar water heaters into the infrastructure of the residence halls.

Benefits obtained

1) There has been a significant reduction in water consumption. The university eliminated 100% of the water used for the soccer field, with the modification of the soccer field. Likewise, it is estimated that more than 60,000 L of water have been saved annually with the replacement of conventional urinals. 

2) The program for the collection of batteries and obsolete computer equipment, together with the collaborative work in the proper use of garbage, has eliminated the negative impact of soil contamination that the university had years ago; garbage is now properly managed and organic and pruning waste is used as organic fertilizer.

3) Another benefit of these changes to the university's infrastructure has been in energy consumption. Thanks to the installation of indoor and outdoor LED lamps and solar water heaters, the university has seen a notable decrease in electricity consumption.

Challenges

1) The main challenge has been to allocate resources for infrastructure changes with high medium-term costs, e.g. solar panels, due to the availability of resources.

2) The other challenge has been to generate a sense of care and proper management of resources and waste throughout the university community, from their correct separation to their reuse.