Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	68.42
Liaison	Andrew D'Amico
Submission Date	Aug. 25, 2021

STARS v2.2

Princeton University
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	5.56 / 8.00	David Oettinger Recycling & Solid Waste Manager Building Services

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

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Materials recycled	352 Tons	1,370 Tons
Materials composted	774 Tons	830 Tons
Materials donated or re-sold	44 Tons	50 Tons
Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion	0 Tons	0 Tons
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator	1,451 Tons	3,250 Tons
Total waste generated	2,621 Tons	5,500 Tons

A brief description of the residual conversion facility:

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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	July 1, 2005	June 30, 2006

A brief description of when and why the waste generation baseline was adopted:

The baseline was adopted because this timeframe was prior to the inception of the University’s Sustainability Plan in 2007-2008.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	6,767	6,111
Number of employees resident on-site	332	474
Number of other individuals resident on-site	483	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	8,441	6,935
Full-time equivalent of employees	6,897	5,400
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	0	0
Weighted campus users	13,761.25	10,897.50

Total waste generated per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total waste generated per weighted campus user	0.19 Tons	0.50 Tons

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

62.26

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

44.64

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

44.64

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	Yes
Furniture	Yes
Residence hall move-in/move-out waste	Yes
Scrap metal	Yes
Pallets	Yes
Tires	Yes
Other (please specify below)	No

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

Note: "Materials donated" includes cooking oil, which is recovered at campus dining locations and sent to Waste Oil Recyclers which reuses it for biofuel production.

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

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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?:

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

Average contamination rate for the institution’s recycling program:

A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed:

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A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives:

The University implemented a student’s idea to have resource recovery stations as a zero-waste solution at large campus events. The stations reduce contamination and the amount of waste sent to the landfill by educating attendees about what goes in each bin (recycling, landfill, compost) through informational signage and directions from staffed volunteers. Therefore, the centers make waste more apparent to people on a regular basis, while encouraging them to actively think what materials can be recycled or composted versus landfilled.

Other waste-related behavior change initiatives include: periodic recycling education tabling and study breaks hosted by student EcoReps; and Greening Dining’s food waste weigh-in events at campus dining halls.

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

In 2019, a 2-part waste audit was conducted on campus that captured everyday operations as well as Princeton's annual Reunions event.

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

In 2017, the University transitioned to a new campus-wide copier program. Using new multifunctional devices is less costly than printing to a local desktop or network printer and reduces the amount of used toner cartridges entering the waste stream.

All parts of the toner cartridges and waste toner cartridges are 100% recyclable and can be placed in regular office recycling.

Princeton uses reusable boxes for supply deliveries from our office supply supplier.

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

Please find the description of the University's Resource Recovery program here: https://facilities.princeton.edu/services/resource-recovery-program

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

Two outlets exist that encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse including:
• Tiger-Trade for the exchange of furniture, books, housing, jobs, and more.
• University Resource Recovery Program for donating or finding furniture, electronics, office supplies and other equipment

A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:

Each student is given a quota for the number of pages per semester that he/she may print. Princeton also highly encourages students to print less and view documents electronically. In addition, the University's printers automatically print double sided (unless otherwise specified by the student) to conserve paper.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:

All Princeton course catalogs and schedules are offered online.

Princeton’s Admissions Office transitioned to only taking online applications and only notifying students about their application electronically.

OIT has worked with several offices on campus to develop and implement a new paperless advising system. These ‘advising tools’ facilitate valuable discussions between students and their residential college advisers.

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

Any student may store their belongings during the summer through the Princeton Student Agencies Moving and Storage Agency for a fee. Additionally, by providing summer storage to international students and students studying abroad, the University is helping to reduce potential waste that could otherwise result from packaging and shipping.

To reduce the amount of move-out waste, the Eco-Reps work with Building Services each year to place collection bins at about 20 sites across campus. Students are encouraged to donate books, school supplies, clothing, unopened food and toiletries, furniture, and other reusable materials.

In 2017, The EcoReps and the Office of Sustainability piloted a program last year to collect these items and other donations to resell at affordable prices during the move-in period for the fall semester, saving material that would otherwise be sent to a landfill.
The effort was very successful with nearly every item being sold or given away, and the money earned helped make the project break-even. The goal for 2018 is to expand the program and increase the efficiency of operations to further lower costs.

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

Clothing donations are accepted year-round in collection boxes in laundry rooms in residential colleges.

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

http://sustain.princeton.edu/progress/waste-reduction

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Recovery and Reuse programs: https://sustain.princeton.edu/recycle

University Resource Recovery Program: https://facilities.princeton.edu/services/resource-recovery-program

Tiger-Trade exchange platform: https://ttrade.tigerapps.org/

https://scraplab.princeton.edu/

Waste Oil Recyclers program: https://wasteoilrecyclers.com/

Note: The baseline data for materials reused, donated or re-sold is from fiscal year 2007 because the data from fiscal year 2006 is unavailable.

Data source(s) and notes about the submission