Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 53.15
Liaison Paul Scanlon
Submission Date Feb. 29, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Slippery Rock University
OP-22: Waste Minimization

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.19 / 5.00 Paul Scanlon
Special Assistant to the President
President's Office/Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Waste generated::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Materials recycled 293 Tons 163.16 Tons
Materials composted 54 Tons 54 Tons
Materials reused, donated or re-sold 61 Tons 58 Tons
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator 629 Tons 857 Tons

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 2,379 2,881
Number of residential employees 0 0
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 8,687 7,704
Full-time equivalent of employees 858 826
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 1,158 141

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year July 1, 2014
+ Date Revised: July 7, 2016
June 30, 2015
+ Date Revised: July 7, 2016
Baseline Year July 1, 2004
+ Date Revised: July 7, 2016
June 30, 2005
+ Date Revised: July 7, 2016

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

The waste generation baseline was adopted when our first greenhouse gas inventory was created in 2009; at that time, FY 2004-2005 was the oldest time period for which our GHG records were considered reliably accurate, and the same baseline period was adopted for waste generation.


A brief description of any (non-food) waste audits employed by the institution:

Waste audits are completed annually as part of our greenhouse gas inventory process and our strategic plan update reports; landfilled waste, scrap metal collected and sold, e-waste recycled, and normal paper/plastic recycling quantities are logged each year. The amount of leaves collected and composted during our community-wide leaf collection program, as well as the amount of pre-consumer food scraps collected for composting, were audited once since FY 2005.


A brief description of any institutional procurement policies designed to prevent waste:

SRU's Purchasing and Contracting department has developed a specific policy aimed at minimizing the waste of printing paper and toner ink; the policy can be found at:
http://www.sru.edu/offices/purchasing/policies-and-guides


A brief description of any surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:

All university property that is no longer needed is sent to Central Receiving as surplus property. The property is available for other departments to use as they see fit. When the property builds up, an auction is held that is open to the public. Items not sold at auction are either permanently loaned to an outside organization, recycled, or disposed of as waste.


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

Course catalogs, course schedules, and directories are not printed for students and are found online. In addition the University utilizes the DesireToLearn (D2L) program which enables students to receive assignments and readings online and turn in assignments without printing.


A brief description of any limits on paper and ink consumption employed by the institution:

Students are allowed to print 300 free, black and white printed pages for general printing and 200 pages of black and white printing for assignments each semester. One printed color page equals three black and white pages. Those exceeding their limit are charged $0.05 per black and white page and $0.15 per color page.


A brief description of any programs employed by the institution to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:

Slippry Rock University provides cardboard dumpsters to encourage recycling during move-out. An annual "Dump and Run" campaign is also conducted around graduation time, with over 3 tons of materials (mostly reusable furniture and appliances) collected and donated to local charities.


A brief description of any other (non-food) waste minimization strategies employed by the institution:
---

A brief description of any food waste audits employed by the institution:

Dining Services and AVI engage in periodic waste audits and evaluations to discover ways to reduce waste (such as going "trayless" and collecting pre-consumer food scraps for composting).


A brief description of any programs and/or practices to track and reduce pre-consumer food waste in the form of kitchen food waste, prep waste and spoilage:

The culinary technique of "batch cooking", where frequent smaller quantities of food are prepared throughout the meal service, is employed to reduce food waste.


A brief description of programs and/or practices to track and reduce post-consumer food waste:

Slippery Rock's Dining services, as a part of AVI fresh, completely removed trays from dining halls in May 2012. This has been found to be effective in reducing food waste by 25%, in addition to reducing dishwashing detergent and tray washing energy use.


A brief description of the institution's provision of reusable and/or third party certified compostable to-go containers for to-go food and beverage items (in conjunction with a composting program):

Located in Bailey Library, T&B Naturally is SRU's sustainable coffee shop on campus. Greenware products, and all natural/organic products are offered as well as re-usable mugs.


A brief description of the institution's provision of reusable service ware for “dine in” meals and reusable and/or third party certified compostable service ware for to-go meals (in conjunction with a composting program):

Reusable to-go containers are available at Boozel Xpress. The container is a durable dishwasher safe, hinged lid container; 100% BPA free plastic. For a one-time fee, dining customers may check out the container to be used for take-out food. Students can return the dirty container to be washed and sanitized by Dining Services; then the container is put back into use at Boozel Xpress. The customer is given a clean container to replace the returned container.


A brief description of any discounts offered to customers who use reusable containers (e.g. mugs) instead of disposable or compostable containers in to-go food service operations:

T&B and Starbucks locations on campus offer a reusable mug for purchase. Upon purchase, coffee can be purchased at $1.50 for the lifetime of the mug. That’s $.75 cheaper than a small coffee.


A brief description of other dining services waste minimization programs and initiatives:

It has been determined that napkin usage declines by 50% when napkins are available at the table rather than at a central location. Single serve dispensers decrease usage nearly 80% compared to stacks. Napkin dispensers are located on the tables in the dining hall. Napkins are made from 100% post-consumer material.


The website URL where information about the institution’s waste minimization initiatives is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Landfilled waste quantities taken from greenhouse gas inventory calculations. Materials recycled quantity from FY 2005-2006 used for base period (data not available from FY 2004-2005).


Landfilled waste quantities taken from greenhouse gas inventory calculations. Materials recycled quantity from FY 2005-2006 used for base period (data not available from FY 2004-2005).

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.