Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 60.39
Liaison Christina Olsen
Submission Date March 30, 2021

STARS v2.2

British Columbia Institute of Technology
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 5.71 / 8.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Parts 1 and 2. Waste per person

Figures needed to determine total waste generated (and diverted):
Performance Year Baseline Year
Materials recycled 139.09 Tons 228.25 Tons
Materials composted 67.47 Tons 60.88 Tons
Materials donated or re-sold 0 Tons 0 Tons
Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion 0 Tons 0 Tons
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator 654.79 Tons 1,563.77 Tons
Total waste generated 861.35 Tons 1,852.90 Tons

If reporting post-recycling residual conversion, provide:

A brief description of the residual conversion facility:
N/A

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Period Jan. 1, 2020 Dec. 31, 2020
Baseline Period Jan. 1, 2019 Dec. 31, 2019

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:
---

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site 377 754
Number of employees resident on-site 0 0
Number of other individuals resident on-site 7 7
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment 22,167 21,612
Full-time equivalent of employees 2,442.17 2,360.90
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education 2,537 2,394
Weighted campus users 16,655.38 16,379.68

Total waste generated per weighted campus user:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total waste generated per weighted campus user 0.05 Tons 0.11 Tons

Percentage reduction in total waste generated per weighted campus user from baseline:
54.28

Part 3. Waste diverted from the landfill or incinerator

Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator by recycling, composting, donating or re-selling, performance year:
23.98

Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator (including up to 10 percent attributable to post-recycling residual conversion):
23.98

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 No
White goods (i.e. appliances) Yes
Electronics Yes
Laboratory equipment No
Furniture No
Residence hall move-in/move-out waste Yes
Scrap metal Yes
Pallets Yes
Tires Yes
Other (please specify below) Yes

A brief description of other materials the institution has recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold:
Toner cartridges, pens, Styrofoam, sawdust, concrete, soft plastic, batteries.

Optional Fields 

Active Recovery and Reuse

Materials intended for disposal but subsequently recovered and reused on campus, performance year:
---

Recycling Management 

Does the institution use single stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
Yes

Does the institution use dual stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
Yes

Does the institution use multi-stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
Yes

Contamination and Discard Rates 

Average contamination rate for the institution’s recycling program:
---

A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed:
BCIT Green Team volunteers educate on waste sorting at large events and staff waste sorting stations.

Programs and Initiatives 

A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives:
- Activated bulk ordering of custodial supplies, reducing deliveries to quarterly from monthly.
- Installed twenty additional 4-stream recycling stations to corridors and public areas, and 5 exterior 3-stream recycling stations in the first quarter of 2020.
- Introduced 277 sanitary disposal receptacles where all waste goes to waste-to-energy conversion, reducing 4,000 lbs landfill waste annually. This reduced monthly waste by 800 lbs, generating 216 kW of power.
- Scheduled BCIT stakeholder tour at third party recycling centre to learn about improvements for waste sorting.

A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:
Annual audits performed in 2018, 2019 and 2020 by third part waste and recycling hauling contractor.

A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
---

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

A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:
---

A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:
Digital vs. physical signatures are a new requirement throughout BCIT in 2020.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:
With 70% of BCIT staff working from home during the Pandemic, this has become a requirement.

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

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

Website URL where information about the institution’s waste minimization and diversion efforts is available:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
For the disposal at end-of-life, BCIT puts items for up for auction. Due to the fact that items go to auction from different areas of the institution, estimates for "Materials donated or re-sold" and "Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion" are unable to be provided are they are not currently tracked. Given this, the best estimates for these figures have been reported as zero.

The discrepancy in figures from the baseline and performance year are due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, student and employee on-campus visits decreased.

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.