Colleges & Universities in New England

The Best Management Practices (BMP) Catalog: Case Studies

The BMP Catalog was designed to enhance EPA's Environmental Management System (EMS) Guide for Colleges and Universities. The case studies included in the BMP Catalog are intended to assist colleges and universities achieve compliance and beyond compliance goals such as pollution prevention, resource conservation, and environmental stewardship.

With the BMP Catalog we have sought to identify best management practices that tell stories of leading edge activities uniquely applicable to the higher education sector and applicable to many colleges and universities. While these case studies are examples of a certain activity, implementation must be tailored to each institution - with different resources and demands, a BMP for a small, rural, public institution might look quite different from that BMP at a large, public metropolitan university.

An institution with the elements of an Environmental Management System (EMS), and the momentum to sustain environmental leadership into the future, will have implemented a variety of BMPs similar to those in the Catalog. The institutions developing and implementing these practices are building the elements of a strong environmental program. BMPs can bring sustainable institutional excellence when they're part of a comprehensive integrated Environmental Management System, or EMS, that includes "plan, do, check, and act" components. For more information about EMS.

The case studies are organized according to the following general categories:

Building Sustainable Programs
Energy
Sustainable Design & Building
Transportation Solutions
Waste Management
Water Management

You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more about PDF, and for a link to the free Acrobat Reader.

Building Sustainable Programs Bowdoin College Campus Sustainability Report (PDF) (2 pp, 212K) Harvard University Dedicated Revolving Loan Fund for Environmental Projects (PDF) (4 pp, 109K) University of Connecticut Sustainability Coordinator Position (PDF) (5 pp, 128K) University of Vermont AND University of North Carolina AND Yale University Environmental Performance Reporting (PDF) (4 pp, 72K) Energy Eastern Connecticut State University Geothermal Energy System (PDF) (3 pp, 112K) Southern Connecticut State University Sub-Metering Campus Buildings (PDF) (4 pp, 71K) Sustainable Design & Building Middlebury College Using Green Certified Wood (PDF) (5 pp, 151K) Ohio University Management of Construction Debris (PDF) (4 pp, 110K) University of Maine-Farmington Green Design: Building a Better World at a Small Public Institution (PDF) (5 pp, 162K) Transportation Solutions Cornell University If You Build It They Will Come (and other tales of how free-fare transit saved $40 million at Cornell) (PDF) (5 pp, 90K) Indiana University Internet-Based Videoconferencing: Connect Globally to Build Locally (PDF) (6 pp, 109K) Waste Management Bates College Dining Services Composting Program (PDF) (5 pp, 85K) Catholic University of America Integrated Pest Management (PDF) (4 pp, 104K) Colby College RESCUE-Recycle Everything Save Colby’s Usable Excess (PDF) (4 pp, 121K) Rhode Island School of Design Pollution Prevention Management in the Arts (PDF) (4 pp, 76K) University of Massachusetts-Amherst UMass Amherst is in the Business of Recycling (PDF) (4 pp, 76K) Water Management Boston University Parking Lot Storm Water Control Program (PDF) (4 pp, 127K)