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 Home Our WorkCampaigns & ProjectsStudent ActionToxic Case Study
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TOXIC FREE UC
Students for a Toxic Free UC campaigned across the state to change how the UC buys and disposes electronics to protect our environment, communities and workers around the world.
Launched in 2006, the Toxic Free UC Campaign organized, educated and activated students at the ten-campus University of California (UC) system to push for sustainable electronics purchasing policies. Students urged the UC system to leverage its enormous buying power by demanding electronics that are clean, green and sweatshop-free. This includes products that are made and recycled under fair and ethical working conditions, last longer, include less toxic materials and are easier to recycle.
The campaign has already had impressive success—in March 2007, UC President
Robert Dynes approved a comprehensive system-wide Policy on Sustainable Practices that includes most of the campaign’s demands, including tough new guidelines for electronics purchasing and recycling.
The Toxic Free UC Campaign began in summer 2006 by recruiting students from seven UC campuses to serve as lead organizers. Students participated in two week-long skills-building trainings, learning more about the human health and environmental justice impacts of the high-tech industry. They also honed their campaigning, communication and outreach skills, while practicing strategic goal-setting and tactics development.
 At the conclusion of these trainings the students were definitely energized! They hit the ground running fall of 2006 and immediately began building awareness of the issues on their campuses. They researched electronics purchasing and disposal procedures; hosted film screenings and other events; and lobbied their campus administrations and the system wide UC Office of the President to adopt sustainable purchasing and recycling guidelines. Students continued to press for Dynes’ approval of the policy through their presence at UC Board of Regents’ meetings, as well as through emails, postcards and calls to his office.
On April 2, 2007 the University of California 10-campus system passed a new far-reaching “Environmental Sustainability Policy” that includes provisions to purchase less toxic computers that last longer and are easier to recycle. It also requires electronics companies to “take back” and responsibly recycle old electronic products without using prison labor or sending their e-waste overseas. With this announcement, UC has become the first university in the nation to adopt guidelines for buying greener electronics, disposal of e-waste, and “takeback” recycling. Given its size and proximity to the high-tech industry, UC’s decision could potentially have enormous impacts on how electronics are made and recycled.
Click here for news release.
Click here to download UC Sustainability Policy.
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Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
760 N. First Street, Suite 200, San Jose, CA 95112
P: 408-287-6707 | F: 408-287-6771
svtc@svtc.org
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