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. 

La escasez de agua es un problema existente en la ciudad de Celaya, Guanajuato, zona geográfica donde se ubica la universidad, por lo que se han generado acciones y cambios enfocados a mejorar la gestión y uso de este recurso. Una de las principales acciones implementadas ha sido la modificación completa del campo de fútbol de tamaño profesional de la Universidad, así como otras áreas verdes donde se ha sustituido el césped convencional por césped sintético, eliminando así el consumo de agua. Del mismo modo, la universidad ha venido sustituyendo los mingitorios comunes que utilizan agua por nuevos que ahorran el 100% del consumo de agua al ser urinarios secos. 

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 In addition, the university has a paperless policy; all paper use has been replaced by electronic documents.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)     Se ha generado una reducción importante del consumo de agua. La universidad eliminó 100% del gasto de agua destinado para la cancha de fútbol y otras areas verdes, con la modificación de esta misma. De la misma manera, se estima que se han ahorrado más de 60.000 L de agua anuales con la sustitución de los mingitorios convencionales. 

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.