Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 67.47
Liaison Aaron Klemm
Submission Date Aug. 26, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

San Jose State University
IN-3: Innovation 3

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Katherine Cushing
Director of Sustainability
Office of the President
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Title or keywords related to the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
CommUniverCity/City of San Jose Illegal Dumping Collaboration

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

During winter and spring of the 2015-16 academic year, SJSU and the City of San Jose’s Environmental Services Department, along with neighborhood leaders, worked together to combat illegal dumping. Using an innovative smart phone application called Terraflex, University faculty and students developed a system for geotagging the location and type of illegal dumping so that City staff and management could better understand what was being dumped and use the information to develop effective community outreach strategies. Additionally, faculty and students in the Sociology and Environmental Studies Departments conducted door-to-door surveys and focus groups to better understand community awareness. The results of this cooperative project enabled the City’s waste haulers to more efficiently target bulky item pickup and contributed to a significant reduction in illegal waste in two of three hotspot areas.


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

Working with City staff and third party waste haulers, the joint project contributed to the reduction of illegal dumping in key hotspot areas by 5-10% over the course of six months and provided valuable baseline data to the City.

Over 50 detailed comments from community leaders and residents were also assembled and analyzed to identify trends in illegal dumping causes and potential solutions.


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 five):
Yes or No
Curriculum Yes
Research Yes
Campus Engagement Yes
Public Engagement Yes
Air & Climate No
Buildings No
Dining Services No
Energy No
Grounds No
Purchasing No
Transportation No
Waste Yes
Water ---
Coordination, Planning & Governance No
Diversity & Affordability No
Health, Wellbeing & Work No
Investment No

Other topic(s) that the innovation relates to that are not listed above:
University-Community Engagement; Service Learning

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.