Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 49.88
Liaison Kristina Hope
Submission Date Feb. 13, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Knox College
IN-1: Innovation 1

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Deb Steinberg
Director of Campus Sustainability Initiatives
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Title or keywords related to the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
Zero-Waste Move Program

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome :

Knox College has implemented a zero-waste move initiative, which was piloted in 2014 with the move of eight offices into the newly renovated Alumni Hall building. The move of these eight offices, comprising 45 employees, and the cascading move of 30 additional employees and programs into vacated spaces, was conducted with maximum internal coordination and material recovery so as to produce no more landfill waste than would have been produced through ordinary daily operations.
Additionally, this initiative involved the purchase of no new boxes. Over a thousand boxes were required for the progressive move, and all were re-appropriated from campus offices that receive packages, most notably dining services and the C-store.


A brief description of any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation (if not reported above):

The school never rented a dumpster or increased its waste pickup schedule throughout this internal move.
An estimated three tons of materials were recovered during the purge of vacated office and storage spaces, through the recycling program and two on-campus sharing programs. Careful efforts were made to provide receptacles for mixed recyclables, cardboard, office paper, books and bound materials, spent electronics, and other recyclable materials. Besides the items collected for recycling, about a ton of the recovered materials included reusable office supplies and household items, which were incorporated into the Office of Sustainability's "Office Supply Share" and "Free Store", respectively. These services keep usable resources circulating within the campus community, and by consolidating them in designated areas, facilitate access by offices and individuals in need of specific supplies.
A conservative estimate indicates that 1500 mid-sized cardboard boxes were temporarily diverted from the outgoing recycling stream of the cafeteria and convenience store, used multiple times throughout the move, and then returned to the compactor to be ultimately recycled. Considering that "traditional" moving boxes might otherwise have been purchased for the endeavor, the cost savings and reductions in natural resource extraction associated with this move are significant.


A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise:
Which of the following STARS subcategories does the innovation most closely relate to? (Select all that apply up to a maximum of 5):
Yes or No
Curriculum No
Research No
Campus Engagement Yes
Public Engagement No
Air & Climate No
Buildings No
Dining Services No
Energy No
Grounds No
Purchasing Yes
Transportation No
Waste Yes
Water No
Coordination, Planning & Governance Yes
Diversity & Affordability Yes
Health, Wellbeing & Work No
Investment No

Other topic(s) that the innovation relates to that are not listed above:
---

The website URL where information about the innovation is available :
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

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.