The Sustainable Office Certification (SOC) Program seeks to increase the sustainability of the day-to-day operations of campus offices through education, encouragement, and reflection. The SOC Program offers offices metrics to evaluate and advance sustainable office behaviors. Each certified office will be ranked on a scale from bronze to Wildcat based on their finalized scorecard. The entire certification process should take an estimated four hours over four to five weeks to complete.

An employee is considered anyone who works at least 50% of their time in the office, including student, contracted, part-time, STEPS, or regular employees. An office is considered a group of at least five employees who share space and resources. Applications for the SOC Program will be open twice per year (Fall and Spring) to any office interested in participating in the program. Fill out our interest form to be notified when applications are open.

Step 1

Select a point person for your office to coordinate program participation through. This will be your office’s Sustainability Ambassador. Review the Sustainable Office Certification Program SCORECARD.

Step 2 (~1 hour)

Contact recycle@uky.edu for an introductory meeting where we will answer any initial questions, explain the scorecard, and review the current practices in your office. A baseline score for your office will be determined, but this will not be the score used for certification.

Step 3 (~3 hours)

After the baseline score is determined, your office will have a two-month window to discuss the program with your office and make any changes you would like to improve your office’s score. Once the scorecard is resubmitted, this will be the final score used to rank and certify your office.

Step 4

Collect your office’s certificate at the end-of-semester networking luncheon.

Step 5

Attend the fall Sustainable Showcase to be recognized for your office’s certification status.

Step 6

Recertify within two years. Certification is valid for up to two years, but offices may also recertify sooner.

• Join a cross-campus network of peers working together to be agents of change.
• Play a key role in implementing university-wide sustainability goals and programs.
• Add to your knowledge of sustainability concepts.
• Gain university-wide recognition for your sustainability efforts.

There are four levels for the program:

• Wildcat Paw: 80-100% of available points
• Gold Paw: 65-79%  of available points
• Silver Paw: 50-64% of available points
• Bronze Paw: 10-49%  of available points
   

Program Interest Form

Program Scorecard

Resource and Signage Packet (coming soon)

Contact recycle@uky.edu for any assistance or questions about the Sustainable Office Certification Program.