Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 56.08
Liaison Katherine Straub
Submission Date Aug. 21, 2020

STARS v2.2

Susquehanna University
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.68 / 8.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Parts 1 and 2. Waste per person

Figures needed to determine total waste generated (and diverted):
Performance Year Baseline Year
Materials recycled 53.69 Tons 74 Tons
Materials composted 1 Tons 0 Tons
Materials donated or re-sold 0 Tons 0 Tons
Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion 0 Tons 0 Tons
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator 591.25 Tons 690 Tons
Total waste generated 645.94 Tons 764 Tons

If reporting post-recycling residual conversion, provide:

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 July 1, 2018 June 30, 2019
Baseline Period July 1, 2012 June 30, 2013

If end date of the baseline year/period is 2004 or earlier, provide:

A brief description of when and why the waste generation baseline was adopted:
Chose FY 2013 as the baseline year to be consistent with the GHG inventory baseline.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site 2,052 1,782
Number of employees resident on-site 11 16
Number of other individuals resident on-site 0 0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment 2,241.70 2,168
Full-time equivalent of employees 499.75 439
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education 0 0
Weighted campus users 2,571.84 2,404.75

Total waste generated per weighted campus user:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total waste generated per weighted campus user 0.25 Tons 0.32 Tons

Percentage reduction in total waste generated per weighted campus user from baseline:
20.95

Part 3. Waste diverted from the landfill or incinerator

Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator by recycling, composting, donating or re-selling, performance year:
8.47

Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator (including up to 10 percent attributable to post-recycling residual conversion):
8.47

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

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

Optional Fields 

Active Recovery and Reuse

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

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?:
Yes

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

Contamination and Discard Rates 

Average contamination rate for the institution’s recycling program:
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A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed:
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Programs and Initiatives 

A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives:
In 2019, all trash cans were removed from classrooms and placed in convenient locations in common spaces alongside recycling cans to remove barriers to recycling. Terracycle boxes have been placed across campus and the campus community has been increasingly using these receptacles to recycle harder to recycle items.

A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:
In March 2018, a waste audit conducted by the Office of Sustainability (with students) of 2 first year residence halls assessed the impacts of adopting new recycling signs throughout campus. In September 2018, a waste audit conducted by the Office of Sustainability (with students) of an academic building assessed the impacts of removing trash cans from classrooms. The findings helped remove all trash cans from classrooms. In March 2019, a waste audit conducted by the Office of Sustainability (with students) of 2 first year residence halls assessed the impacts of different recycling can lids.

A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
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A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:
Facilities Management owns several large storage spaces where unwanted furniture is collected and saved for reuse. This supply is then open to the campus community when trying to furnish offices and common spaces in residence buildings.

A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:
Information Technology holds a "yard sale" each year to sell surplus IT equipment to campus community members.

A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:
All students are allotted $30 per semester for printing and copying. They are charged the same rates as faculty and administrators - $0.06 B&W, $0.10 Color. If they go over their allotment, the Bursar will invoice for printing/copying charges.

By default, printing is set for duplex 2-sided and black and white. Single sided and color are available but must be selected at the time of printing.

Faculty can request additional university allotted pages for particular classes.

All student printing requests are stored for 24 hours. If the print job is not actually released and printed, the print job will be deleted from the print queue.

University wide, no printing on the Multifunction Printers takes place without a charge code, resulting in all print charges being allocated to one of the university’s department budgets.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:
Faculty meeting agendas and minutes are distributed electronically. Updated Faculty Handbooks are printed only by request. Course catalogs are printed only by request. Finance-related activities such as PCard reconciliation and approval and payments/reimbursements are processed electronically.

A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:
Information Technology designates areas during move-out for students to leave unwanted electronics. Facilities Management designates spots for cardboard recycling during move-in. Hawk Stuff, collects gently used items from students that they no longer want and would have thrown away and saves them all summer long to give out to students in the fall.

A brief description of the institution's programs or initiatives to recover and reuse other materials intended for disposal:
*Note - The composting program that composted 1 ton of food waste in FY 2019 (listed above) is no longer active. Instead, we've partnered with a pig farmer for FY 20 to take food waste that is coming out of our main dining room. For ease of operation, all pre-consumer food waste that we were composting on campus is now diverted to the pig farmer. About 60% of total food waste is now being diverted from the landfill. Due to COVID 19, we chose FY 19 as a more representative performance year than FY 20.

Website URL where information about the institution’s waste minimization and diversion efforts is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Landfill waste includes both Facilities (campus) and Aramark (Dining Services)

FY 2019:
Facilities 374.35 tons
Aramark 216.9 tons
Total = 591.25 tons

FY 2013:
Facilities 344 tons
Aramark 337 tons Evert + 9 tons Ele's
Total = 690 tons

Weights provided by Facilities Management and SU Dining Services.

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.