Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 70.82
Liaison Stephanie MacPhee
Submission Date Jan. 7, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Dalhousie University
OP-23: Waste Diversion

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.69 / 3.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

None
Materials diverted from the solid waste landfill or incinerator:
760.22 Metric tons

None
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator :
588.76 Metric tons

None
A brief description of programs, policies, infrastructure investments, outreach efforts, and/or other factors that contributed to the diversion rate, including efforts made during the previous three years:
Please visit: http://www.dal.ca/dept/sustainability/programs/waste/reduce-re-use.html

None
A brief description of any food donation programs employed by the institution:
Excess food gets donated to a local soup kitchen called 'Hope Cottage.' These meals get prepared each month and two or more employee volunteer of Dalhousie Food Services go and serve the meal. See more here: http://www.campusdish.com/en-US/CA/Dalhousie/SocialResponsibility/Hope+Cottage.htm

None
A brief description of any pre-consumer food waste composting program employed by the institution:
Four out of four dining halls run pre-consumer compost programs. In Halifax, organic material is picked up at the building by grounds staff (every day or every day or two depending on volume), brought to the warehouse, sorted to remove contaminants, and the remaining material is repacked into green carts. Green carts are picked up directly from Dalhousie kitchens (every couple of days) by a commercial hauler, once every couple of days to a week. Material is trucked to Ragged Lake compost facility (HRM composting facility) 15 km from the university. On the AC, compost is trucked to the Colchester Composting Facility, roughly 20 km for campus. http://www.dal.ca/dept/sustainability/programs/waste/composting.html

None
A brief description of any post-consumer food waste composting program employed by the institution:
Four out of four dining halls run post consumer compost programs. In Halifax, organic material is picked up at the building by grounds staff (every day or every day or two depending on volume), brought to the warehouse, sorted to remove contaminants, and the remaining material is repacked into green carts. Green carts are picked up directly from Dalhousie kitchens (every couple of days) by a commercial hauler, once every couple of days to a week. Material is trucked to Ragged Lake compost facility (HRM composting facility) 15 km from the university. On the AC, compost is trucked to the Colchester Composting Facility, roughly 20 km for campus. http://www.dal.ca/dept/sustainability/programs/waste/composting.html

Does the institution include the following materials in its waste diversion efforts?:
Yes or No
Paper, plastics, glass, metals, and other recyclable containers Yes
Food donations Yes
Food for animals No
Food composting Yes
Cooking oil Yes
Plant materials composting Yes
Animal bedding composting Yes
Batteries Yes
Light bulbs Yes
Toner/ink-jet cartridges 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
Motor oil Yes
Tires Yes

None
Other materials that the institution includes in its waste diversion efforts:
Paint, Drywall and ceiling tiles. http://www.dal.ca/dept/sustainability/programs/waste/construction-anddemolition.html

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Dalhousie University has a number of waste management programs to reduce and re-use material on campus through programs such as surplus goods and divert material from the landfill such as pre and post-consumer organics, paper and cardboard, yard waste, and recyclables which includes refundables. In addition a number of other re-use and recycling programs exist including the DUMP and RUN serving over 800 people a year, electronics, C&D, white goods, and as hazardous waste. Ongoing annual student research supports new ideas for diversion efforts. This information includes the Halifax campuses. The NS Agriculture College merged with Dalhousie in September 2012. Data procedures need to be established to begin collecting data on streams. This campus 1/10 the size of the Halifax campuses will be included in the next STARS report for this category. The reliability of waste stream tonnage data can vary from material to material. Currently estimations have to be used for some streams including garbage as tonnage data provided to the university is currently not consistent enough. Data provided by haulers is correlated with waste audit data and FM staff observations. Ongoing and future work is being conducted on ensuring accurate weights. The recyclables volume can vary year to year depending on how much student fundraising is done with refundables. For more information visit: http://www.dal.ca/dept/sustainability/programs/waste.html

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.