Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 40.64
Liaison Rebecca Collins
Submission Date July 31, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Temple University
OP-22: Waste Minimization

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.94 / 5.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Waste generated::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Materials recycled 981.03 Tons 1,031.50 Tons
Materials composted 368.70 Tons 270 Tons
Materials reused, donated or re-sold 1,035.36 Tons 20.50 Tons
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator 3,163.85 Tons 4,439.88 Tons

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 5,313 4,550
Number of residential employees 12 12
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 33,955 25,280
Full-time equivalent of employees 6,947 6,478
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 166 0

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year July 1, 2013 June 30, 2014
Baseline Year July 1, 2005 June 30, 2006

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

FY 2006 was the first year of reliable reported data


A brief description of any (non-food) waste audits employed by the institution:
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A brief description of any institutional procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
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A brief description of any surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:

1. Temple's Computer Recycling Center accepts donations of unwanted office supplies and makes them available at no cost to other departments and students on campus through Swap Tables and the Swap Room located in the TECH Center. The CRC was able to rescue multiple pallets of office supplies from the USB building before it was demolished.

2. University departments give their surplus to the Office of Facilities Management. This surplus furniture is made available to other departments on campus as an alternative to purchasing new furniture.

3. The School of Podiatric Medicine makes clinical equipment available to its alumni when the school no longer wishes to retain it.


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

Temple University uses self-service banner for all of its course catalogs and schedules. Hard copies of the catalogs and course schedules are no longer made available. The university's directory is hosted online via the cherry and white directory, and hard copies are not made available.


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

1. All currently-enrolled Temple University students paying the University Services Fee receive a free printing quota. This quota may be used for standard (8.5" x 11" black and white) and color laser printing only. There is a charge for plotters and some specialty printing. The amount of your quota depends on the amount of University Services Fee paid (based on credit hours) for the semester in which you are enrolled. If you exhaust your quota, your Diamond Dollars account will be automatically charged for any printing. At the end of each six-month printing period, any unused quota is deleted. The quota has no cash value; there are no refunds or transfers for unused quotas.

2. Duplexing is the default setting for printers in the Tech Center. This reduces the amount of used paper generated.


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

Temple's Residential Life Department organizes an end of the year clean-out, which focuses on collecting donations from students leaving the residence halls. The clean-out targets clothing, food, carpet, household items, and electronics. With the exception of electronics, the items are donated to local charities. The electronics are recycled through the university's computer recycling center.


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

1. Since 2011, over 100 water bottle filling stations have been installed throughout Temple campuses, providing cool, filtered water to the Temple community. Most water bottle filling stations have a counter located on them to track how many bottles were diverted from the waste stream through the use of the station.

2. Collection boxes for book donations are located throughout campus. The books are donated to a Better World Books.

3. Rentacrate supplies durable plastic containers for moves, offering a sustainable alternative to throw-away cardboard boxes. Rentacrate bins can be used for dormitory move-ins and also by university offices for small or large moves.

4. Staples and Alpha have developed a program in partnership with Temple University where ordered office supplies are delivered in reusable boxes and returned back to Alpha. The program is estimated to remove 16,000 boxes or 12.8 tons of cardboard from the waste stream per year.


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

Pre-consumer food waste from Johnson and Hardwick dining hall and Howard Gittis Student Center is collected for composting.


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

Post-consumer food waste from Johnson and Hardwick dining hall is collected for composting.


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):
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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):
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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:

Sodexo offers discounts for using a reusable mug at all of its retail locations. The price of a coffee refill for a reusable mug is only $1.


A brief description of other dining services waste minimization programs and initiatives:
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The website URL where information about the institution’s waste minimization initiatives is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.