A Community-Based Social Marketing Campaign to Green the Offices at Pacific University: Recycling, Paper Reduction, and Environmentally Preferable Purchasing

This study describes a community-based social marketing (CBSM) research project to bring awareness and behavior change around paper reduction, recycling, and purchasing of environmentally preferred products (EPP) at a small liberal arts university in the Pacific Northwest. A university-wide green office campaign was designed and implemented over a semester. Components of the multiple methods research study were pre-post surveys, purchasing reports, a recycling study, and a waste audit. The results provide examples and insights into specific community-based social marketing tools that helped foster environmental behavior change. The paper also presents suggestions for future CBSM sustainability efforts at other universities. The electronic version of the dissertation is accessible at the OhioLINK ETD center www.etd.ohiolink.ed