Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.56
Liaison David Blodgett
Submission Date March 13, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Babson College
OP-22: Waste Minimization

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.92 / 5.00 Steve Tolley
Assistant Director, Ground, Building Services & Sustainability
Facilities Management & Planning
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Waste generated::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Materials recycled 233.96 Tons 237.87 Tons
Materials composted 14.88 Tons 0 Tons
Materials reused, donated or re-sold 120 Tons 23.77 Tons
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator 977.45 Tons 1,681 Tons

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 1,701 1,417
Number of residential employees 12 12
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 2,842 2,715
Full-time equivalent of employees 776 694.50
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 0 0

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year July 1, 2013 June 30, 2014
Baseline Year July 1, 2005 June 30, 2006

A brief description of when and why the waste generation baseline was adopted:

Oldest solid waste data available


A brief description of any (non-food) waste audits employed by the institution:

During the fall of 2011 Babson Eco Reps along with Green Tower members and a number of sororities and fraternities combed through 1,500 pounds of trash to get to the truth of our waste stream. From this waste audit we learned that only 40% of all the trash that we throw away is actually trash. 35% of what we found in the trash could have been recycled and the other 25% could have been composted, donated, or poured down the drain (liquid waste).

See video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWNVQTxWArQ


A brief description of any institutional procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
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A brief description of any surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:

All office furniture is collected by Facilities Management with a priority for re-use on campus. If there is no need on campus, it is sent for re-use through IRN.


A brief description of the institution's efforts to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:

Babson's IT department has been working with campus offices to digitize many processes, such as making paperwork from HR available online instead.

Additionally, the College has a policy to promote scanning documents and sharing electronically instead of printing copies.


A brief description of any limits on paper and ink consumption employed by the institution:

All printing is tracked on campus, and individuals are sent emails letting them know how much they print, how it compares to a previous comparable time span, and how to reduce their printing. Over the past several years, our paper use has been dropping by several percentage points every semester.

All printers are set to double sided by default.


A brief description of any programs employed by the institution to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:

Our move-out program is called Slash the Trash. During move-out collection points are made available in the residence halls for common recyclables as well as clothing, electronics, books, food and other reusable items.

These are collected by facilities staff and transported to a variety of outlets both internally and externally, with a priority to re-use over recycling. Our primary partner is Goodwill.


A brief description of any other (non-food) waste minimization strategies employed by the institution:

The Zero Waste Challenge is an week-long annual competition to produce as little waste as possible. Participants collect all waste that they cannot recycle or compost and carry it with them during the week long competition.


A brief description of any food waste audits employed by the institution:
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A brief description of any programs and/or practices to track and reduce pre-consumer food waste in the form of kitchen food waste, prep waste and spoilage:

We recently launched a pre-consumer food waste diversion program, and the collection stations have helped highlight exactly how much prep waste is produced, helping managers pinpoint areas for improvement.

Our Executive Conference Center also uses the Trim Trax program used to minimize product waste.


A brief description of programs and/or practices to track and reduce post-consumer food waste:

Trim Dining Hall has gone trayless.


A brief description of the institution's provision of reusable and/or third party certified compostable to-go containers for to-go food and beverage items (in conjunction with a composting program):

We do not have the ability to locally compost bio-plastics on campus so we have worked to make our to-go and catering supplies recyclable, and made from recycled-content where possible.


A brief description of the institution's provision of reusable service ware for “dine in” meals and reusable and/or third party certified compostable service ware for to-go meals (in conjunction with a composting program):

We do not have the ability to locally compost bio-plastics on campus so we have worked to make our to-go and catering supplies recyclable, and made from recycled-content where possible.


A brief description of any discounts offered to customers who use reusable containers (e.g. mugs) instead of disposable or compostable containers in to-go food service operations:

Reusable mugs are available for sale at Jazzman’s and Pandini’s. We offer discounts at Jazzman’s, Pandini’s and Dunkin Donuts for the use of a reusable mug.


A brief description of other dining services waste minimization programs and initiatives:
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The website URL where information about the institution’s waste minimization initiatives is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.