Orange County Public Schools rolled out Sustainability 2030 with the goal is to inspire action among students and staff to improve the environment and make a positive social impact in our community while reducing costs to keep dollars in the classroom.
The plan is to be used as a road map to navigate change over the next nine years.
The development of OCPS Sustainability 2030 ensures alignment with local municipalities’ sustainability goals, the United States Green Building Council’s whole school sustainability framework, and the United Nation’s 17 sustainable development goals. Input from over 47,000 staff, students, parents and community members helped to develop the plan for OCPS.
A total of five sustainability targets were identified as priorities:
- Waste Reduction
- Water Conservation
- Health and Wellness
- Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy
- Transportation
Target 1: Waste Reduction
Main objectives include: divert total waste stream from landfill, increase waste reduction educational awareness, and decrease food waste by increasing total weight of composted and donated food.
Target 2: Water Conservation
Main objectives include: decrease indoor water consumption, decrease irrigation usage, and increase water conservation educational awareness.
Target 3: Health and Wellness
Main objectives include: increase school gardens, increase climate healthy and plant-based dining options, increase the health of buildings by decreasing Indoor Air Quality challenges, increase outdoor instruction time, and improve performance of The Florida Healthy Assessment tool.
Target 4: Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy
Main objectives include: decrease energy use intensity, decrease carbon emissions, increase use of renewable energy, increase energy conservation and renewable energy awareness, and increase sustainable building design construction rating.
Target 5: Transportation
Main objectives include: increase number of electric school buses, increase electric or hybrid vehicles, increase the number of EV chargers, decrease idle time, decrease transportation fuel, and conduct sustainable transportation lessons.
See the OCPS Sustainability Plan 2030 for additional information.
