{"id":22871,"date":"2017-12-21T10:23:10","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T15:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=22871"},"modified":"2021-05-22T16:16:42","modified_gmt":"2021-05-22T20:16:42","slug":"diving-into-dumpsters-sustainability-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/diving-into-dumpsters-sustainability-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Universities Diving Into Dumpsters to Advance Sustainability Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sorting through waste is not an appealing task, but more and more universities across the country are conducting campus waste audits to advance their zero waste goals. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Waste audits help universities determine how much waste could have been recycled, composted, or reused and also create a baseline for comparison from one waste audit to the next.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Waste audits are so helpful for sustainability that universities who participate in the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AASHE STARS (American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education \u2013 Sustainability Tracking, Assessment &amp; Rating System) are required to report the results of their waste audits and the programs they have in place to reduce waste. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some universities are veterans conducting regular waste audits, while others are still fairly new to the process. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harvard University, for example, encourages each school, unit and department to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/green.harvard.edu\/tools-resources\/how\/how-host-waste-audit\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">conduct waste audits<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and has clear procedures in place, including an online booking calendar. Waste audits are conducted every Thursdays and Fridays between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast, the University of Hawai\u02bbi at M\u0101noa<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> conducted its <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/10\/23\/students-zero-waste-push\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">second audit in nearly 20 years<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> this fall. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Students get their hands dirty in zero-waste push\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x718rd4Elyw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oregon State University (OSU) sits somewhere in the middle. According to its <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stars.aashe.org\/institutions\/oregon-state-university-or\/report\/2017-02-28\/OP\/waste\/OP-19\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">most recent AASHE STARS audit report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it does not conduct regular waste audits but has dumpster audits, usually from residence halls, \u201cat least a few times per year.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition, OSU, like many other universities, has several <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/sli.oregonstate.edu\/ssi\/initiatives\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">student-led sustainability initiatives<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that tackle climate change. The Campus Recycling group, for example, works with the university\u2019s Sports and Recreation to audit waste from the recreation center.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OSU has also introduced students from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the College of Agriculture Sciences studying sustainability to waste audits for the first time in October. Many were part of a SUS 304 Sustainability Assessment course taught by Professor <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/agsci.oregonstate.edu\/sustainability-double-degree\/faculty-staff\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ann Scheerer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who serves as academic adviser to the sustainability double degree program. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scheerer said in a videotaped statement that the course is important for participants to learn because it will help them gauge and monitor the direction in which they are going.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"NRLA: Sustainability Assessment\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ephu3jaw2AY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The students were divided into six groups, with each auditing a unique building\u2019s waste and then conducting an analysis of the profile of the waste streams from that building, Scheerer said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe two parties involved (OSU campus recycling and the Sustainability Assessment instructor and students) were all pleased with the results,\u201d she said. \u201cThe campus recycling manager has expressed enthusiasm for the assessment reports that the students developed. These reports inform him on contamination issues and how his staff could do a better job of communicating where certain waste should be discarded.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In terms of the course\u2019s learning objectives, Scheerer said she was very pleased with the positive attitude and cooperation displayed by the students. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey were eager to engage in hands-on work and performed well,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Students at Stanford University also conduct waste audits as part of their CEE\/ES 109 Green Buildings and Behavior course. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The audit makes this very real for [the students],&#8221; Stanford\u2019s director of sustainability and SEM business services <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/energy.stanford.edu\/people\/fahmida-ahmed\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fahmida Ahmed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> told the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/news\/2010\/february8\/waste-audit-class-021010.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stanford Report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scheerer agrees. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBy integrating this experiential learning waste audit project, students not only learned more about what it takes to manage a recycling system, but also helped campus recycling group identify several causes of contamination in the recycling and waste streams at Oregon State University, which has led to solutions they are now putting in place,\u201d said Sheerer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No matter the nature or depth of a university\u2019s waste audit program, the driving force behind each program is the belief that zero waste means no trash and waste audits are crucial to advance sustainability goals.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sorting through waste is not an appealing task, but more and more universities across the country are conducting campus waste audits to advance their zero waste goals. Waste audits help universities determine how much waste could have been recycled, composted, or reused and also create a baseline for comparison from one waste audit to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":22879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[233,400,642,229,643],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainable","category-oregon-state-university","category-recycling","category-lead-stories","category-university-action"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Ohio-State-Waste-Audit.jpg",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Ohio-State-Waste-Audit-224x144.jpg",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Ohio-State-Waste-Audit-300x193.jpg",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Ohio-State-Waste-Audit.jpg",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Ohio-State-Waste-Audit.jpg",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Ohio-State-Waste-Audit.jpg",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Ohio-State-Waste-Audit.jpg",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Samuel O'Brient","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/samuel\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Sorting through waste is not an appealing task, but more and more universities across the country are conducting campus waste audits to advance their zero waste goals. Waste audits help universities determine how much waste could have been recycled, composted, or reused and also create a baseline for comparison from one waste audit to the&hellip;","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Ohio-State-Waste-Audit.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}