Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	72.58
Liaison	Tom Twist
Submission Date	June 12, 2020
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

Bates College
OP-19: Waste Minimization and Diversion

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	3.04 / 8.00	Tom Twist Sustainability Manager Facilities

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Parts 1 and 2: Waste Minimization

Figures needed to determine total waste generated (and diverted):

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Materials recycled	137.68 Tons	87.99 Tons
Materials composted	104.30 Tons	0 Tons
Materials donated or re-sold	26 Tons	4 Tons
Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion	0 Tons	0 Tons
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator	270.41 Tons	294.96 Tons
Total waste generated	538.39 Tons	386.95 Tons

If reporting post-recycling residual conversion, provide:

A brief description of the residual conversion facility, including affirmation that materials are sorted prior to conversion to recover recyclables and compostable materials:

n/a

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Year	July 1, 2017	July 1, 2018
Baseline Year	July 1, 2000	July 1, 2001

If end date of the baseline year/period is 2004 or earlier, provide:

A brief description of when and why the waste generation baseline was adopted (e.g. in sustainability plans and policies or in the context of other reporting obligations):

A professor took a particular interest in our college recycling more of our waste stream. Also to get a handle on costs for tipping fees.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	1,780	1,594
Number of employees resident on-site	130	130
Number of other individuals resident on-site and/or staffed hospital beds	100	100
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	1,772	1,694
Full-time equivalent of employees (staff + faculty)	696	538
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	0	0
Weighted campus users	2,428.50	2,205

Total waste generated per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total waste generated per weighted campus user	0.22 Tons	0.18 Tons

Percentage reduction in total waste generated per weighted campus user from baseline:

Part 3: Waste Diversion

Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator by recycling, composting, donating or re-selling, performance year:

49.77

Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator (including up to 10 percent attributable to post-recycling residual conversion):

49.77

In the waste figures reported above, has the institution recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold the following materials?:

	Yes or No
Paper, plastics, glass, metals, and other recyclable containers	Yes
Food	Yes
Cooking oil	Yes
Plant materials	Yes
Animal bedding	Yes
White goods (i.e. appliances)	Yes
Laboratory equipment	Yes
Furniture	Yes
Residence hall move-in/move-out waste	Yes
Scrap metal	Yes
Pallets	Yes
Tires	No
Other (please specify below)	Yes

A brief description of other materials the institution has recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold:

We send 16 tons of our brown grease to a methane digester, and 20 tons of our cooking oil to a biodiesel processing plant. All other streams are conventional.

Optional Fields

Active Recovery and Reuse

Materials intended for disposal but subsequently recovered and reused on campus, performance year (e.g. materials that are actively diverted from the landfill or incinerator and refurbished/repurposed) :

26 Tons

Recycling Management

Does the institution use single stream recycling (a single container for commingled recyclables) to collect standard recyclables (i.e. paper, plastic, glass, metals) in common areas?:

Yes

Does the institution use dual stream (two separate containers for recyclables, e.g. one for paper and another for plastic, glass, and metals) to collect standard recyclables (i.e. paper, plastic, glass, metals) in common areas?:

Does the institution use multi-stream recycling (multiple containers that further separate different types of materials) to collect standard recyclables (i.e. paper, plastic, glass, metals) in common areas?:

Contamination and Discard Rates

Average contamination rate for the institution’s recycling program (percentage, 0-100):

A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed, e.g. efforts to minimize contamination and/or monitor the discard rates of the materials recovery facilities and mills to which materials are diverted:

We are in the process of standardizing our waste signage and offering more streams to eliminate contamination - compost, recycling, liquids, trash. This has helped tremendously. https://www.bates.edu/sustainability/material-flows/

Programs and Initiatives

A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives, e.g. initiatives to shift individual attitudes and practices such as signage and competitions:

Clean Sweep is a huge yard sale filled with items left behind by students and donated by the college and faculty/staff at the end of the year. Every spring volunteers from local non-profit organizations help us collect truckloads of donated items from student residences. We clean, organize, and price everything. Then we help organize a huge,one-day yard sale, usually in late June. All of the earnings go to participating local nonprofits. Bates raises more than $20,000 for local community nonprofits, proving one man’s trash is a community’s treasure. http://www.bates.edu/sustainability/clean-sweep/

A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:

The previous sustainability manager conducted waste audits regularly to both raise awareness and get data on percentages of items found in our waste stream. This data was then used to identify low hanging fruit for waste stream reduction. The audits were held out on our quad, for maximum visibility.

A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste (e.g. by minimizing packaging and purchasing in bulk):

Dining Services uses its buying power to demand packaging reductions from many of our vendors, in order to decrease our tipping fees and environmental footprint on the back end.

A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:

We have large areas set aside for storage of durable, well-constructed furniture. Rather than disposal of furniture, and then purchasing new goods, we tend to store quality furniture and redistribute.

A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse (e.g. of electronics, furnishings, books and other goods):

We have a For Sale listserv, to manage and encourage peer to peer exchange of all sorts of goods - similar to an on-campus craigslist.

A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption (e.g. restricting free printing and/or mandating doubled-sided printing in libraries and computer labs):

Each department is charged at the printer for copies, to dis-incentivize waste. The printers are set up for double sided, black and white as their defaults. Also, they need to be unlocked at the printer before they will print anything, reducing unintended printing.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials (e.g. course catalogs, course schedules, and directories) available online by default rather than printing them:

We are moving increasingly in the direction of online admissions and capital campaign brochures, both to cut cost, as well as be more environmentally benign.

A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:

We offer two main programs - one is strategic positioning of Goodwill bins around campus during transition times. These bins except all clothing, books, goods, furniture, etc. We also hold a "Clean Sweep" event, where local nonprofits pickup unwanted student items from pickup locations, and sell these goods to the community. These goods diverted from the landfill total 14 tons annually. http://www.bates.edu/sustainability/clean-sweep/

A brief description of the institution's programs or initiatives to recover and reuse other materials intended for disposal:

We have a fantastic ewaste program, where ALL of our computers digital devices are sent to E-waste Altrenatives, which re purposes them, and sells them at a discounted rate to schools and people in need. We have partnered with them, and are even featured on their promotional video -

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:

http://www.ewastealternatives.org/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

Waste_and_Recycling__C8sSQ3I.xlsx

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

https://www.bates.edu/sustainability/material-flows/

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.