Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 72.78
Liaison Brandon Trelstad
Submission Date April 30, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Oregon State University
OP-23: Waste Diversion

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.69 / 3.00 Andrea Norris
Outreach Coordinator
Campus Recycling
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Materials diverted from the solid waste landfill or incinerator:
3,275.06 Tons

Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator :
2,546.01 Tons

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:

SURPLUS PROGRAM
Weights for material reused, donated, or re-sold (i.e. processed through OSU Surplus Property) are not taken upon transfer, but we made a conservative estimate of the material processed and included it in the figure above. This means that the amount of total waste diverted is higher than represented above. Our surplus program is well-established in our state, and we sell used items to departments, agencies, non-profits and the general public (at our once weekly public sales). This accounts for a substantial amount of materials diverted from the landfill. In FY14 the sales volume of surplus items was $852,757. Surplus also disassembles and recycles products that cannot be resold, landfilling only the items that are neither resellable nor recyclable.

RECYCLING PROGRAM
As stated on our website, "Campus Recycling is responsible for managing a comprehensive waste management system that focuses on reducing, reusing and recycling with disposal as a last resort." In addition to collecting recyclables from all campus buildings, Campus Recycling offers many additional recycling and waste reduction programs:

1) With Surplus Property, we co-sponsor an annual donation drive in the residence halls during move-out week. In June 2014 we collected 23,784 pounds of material for donation and resale (http://recycle.oregonstate.edu/opportunities/moveout).

2) Campus Recycling provides event recycling as a free service for all campus events, and serves as a resource to event organizers who seek to plan sustainable events.

3) OSU has fairly extensive food composting programs as described below.

4) In addition to composting food and dining waste, OSU also collects the following for composting: landscape debris, scrap wood, and animal bedding.

5) Outreach efforts by Campus Recycling are extensive:

Campus Recycling employs one full-time staff and two part-time student staff to work on outreach and developing new programs. Outreach for recycling and composting occurs via educational events (RecycleMania, Earth Week, etc), tabling at events, public presentations and workshops, collaborative partnerships, social media, etc.

We are the primary organizer of the annual Earth Week celebration, which brings together 40+ on- and off-campus environmental organizations to offer a week full of educational and engaging events, including a community fair and many others.

Campus Recycling and the Student Sustainability Initiative coordinate a student volunteer team called the Waste Watchers, which works on events and marketing, and provides leadership opportunities for students.

Campus Recycling partners with Republic Services to coordinate a Master Recycler program for Linn and Benton counties in Oregon. This 8-week course educates community members about all aspects of waste reduction and is offered for free to anyone who volunteers for 30 hours after completion of the course. These Master Recyclers volunteer at OSU and in the community to educate others about waste reduction.


A brief description of any food donation programs employed by the institution:

OSU Housing and Dining Services provides all leftover products to Linn-Benton Food Share. In addition, OSU provides a Food Pantry for students in need. Any tips left in OSU coffee shops are donated to the food pantry.


A brief description of any pre-consumer food waste composting program employed by the institution:

Republic Services of Corvallis had the first facility in Oregon's to be permitted to accept all food waste including meat, bread and vegetable products. This facility is called the Pacific Region Compost Facility (PRC) and it handles the large majority of compost for the OSU campus. The facility is about 10 miles from OSU, reducing transportation costs and fuel use. A few smaller, on-site composting sites also exist on the OSU campus. Here are the programs to collect pre-consumer organic waste:

1) Pre-consumer food waste is composted at the dining centers of OSU Housing and Dining Services and one Memorial Union restaurant (Pangea). The 3 dining centers and Memorial Union (from Carl's Jr. and Panda Express) recycle used cooking oil and grease. All campus coffee shops collect used grounds. This pre-production waste is sent to the PRC.

2) OSU offers a Department Compost program for kitchens and break rooms. The material collected is a mix of pre- and post-consumer organic material and it is sent to the PRC for processing. Some of the departments are set-up with worm compost bins to manage their own waste, if requested.

3) In FY14 OSU ran a res. hall compost program, offering compost to all residents in 3 res. halls. The material collected is a mix of pre- and post-consumer organic material and it is sent to the PRC for processing.

4) The Student Sustainability Initiative provides a 3-bin composting system at the Student Sustainability Center where Center staff compost. Also, people can donate kitchen waste from residence halls or off-campus living to be composted and used on-site in the permaculture garden.

5) The 4 co-op housing buildings share a composting system used to break down kitchen prep waste.

6) A compost system located near Weniger Hall collects food scraps and coffee grounds and is utilized as a teaching tool for soils classes.


A brief description of any post-consumer food waste composting program employed by the institution:

OSU's post-consumer food composting is similar to our pre-consumer programs listed above.

1) Post-consumer food waste is composted at all three of the dining centers of OSU Housing and Dining Services (2 of these 3 centers have trained staff sorting in the kitchen, resulting in a very high recovery rate). This waste is sent to the Pacific Region Compost facility (PRC).

2) OSU offers a Department Compost program for kitchens and break rooms. The material collected is a mix of pre- and post-consumer organic material and it is sent to the PRC for processing. Some of the departments are set-up with worm compost bins to manage their own waste, if requested.

3) In FY14 OSU ran a res. hall compost program, offering compost to all residents in 3 res. halls. The material collected is a mix of pre- and post-consumer organic material and it is sent to the PRC for processing.

4) The Student Sustainability Initiative provides a couple composting systems at the Student Sustainability Center where people can donate food waste, some of which is likely post-consumer.

5) The 4 co-op housing buildings share a composting system used to break down kitchen prep waste. This system likely includes some post-consumer food waste.

6) A compost system located at Weniger Hall collects food scraps and coffee grounds and is utilized as a teaching tool for soils classes. It may also process post-consumer food waste.


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

Other materials that the institution includes in its waste diversion efforts:

In addition to the commodities in the previous question, OSU also works to divert:
Styrofoam
Film plastics
Electronic storage media (CDs, VHS, floppy disks, etc.)
Electronics
Batteries (alkaline, lead, lithium, NiCd, NiNH, Mercury)
Fluorescent light bulbs and ballasts
Servingware composting
Resale includes additional categories such as computers, shoes/clothing/housewares, office supplies, tools, sporting goods, vehicles and more (http://surplus.oregonstate.edu)


Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The weight of surplus items is not taken upon their transfer. To estimate this weight, we queried our sales database to pull a list of all items sold in FY12, determined the quantity of the most common items sold (e.g. desks, computers, etc.), and multiplied that by an average weight of said items. There were many categories of items we did not account for, so the resulting number is less than what we expect is the actual total of material reused by being processed through OSU Surplus Property.

Data is from Campus Recycling (http://fa.oregonstate.edu/recycling) and Surplus Property (http://fa.oregonstate.edu/surplus).


The weight of surplus items is not taken upon their transfer. To estimate this weight, we queried our sales database to pull a list of all items sold in FY12, determined the quantity of the most common items sold (e.g. desks, computers, etc.), and multiplied that by an average weight of said items. There were many categories of items we did not account for, so the resulting number is less than what we expect is the actual total of material reused by being processed through OSU Surplus Property.

Data is from Campus Recycling (http://fa.oregonstate.edu/recycling) and Surplus Property (http://fa.oregonstate.edu/surplus).

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.