| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 54.63 |
| Liaison | Kelly Wellman |
| Submission Date | Jan. 23, 2015 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Texas A&M University
OP-23: Waste Diversion
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.84 / 3.00 |
Nathan
Jones Manager, Water & Envrionmental Services Utilities & Energy Management |
Materials diverted from the solid waste landfill or incinerator:
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator :
A brief description of programs, policies, infrastructure investments, outreach efforts, and/or other factors that contributed to the diversion rate, including efforts made during the previous three years:
Partnership with local commercial recycler and composter,
Grants for recycling containers,
LEED construction,
Development of Sustainability Office,
Education and community outreach
A brief description of any food donation programs employed by the institution:
Food Recovery Network – Dining Services has partnered with a student organization called Food Recovery Network to donate excess food to local church programs to then be distributed. We are currently at 8,352 pounds recovered since Fall 2013.
At the end of each week, local food banks collect all of our sandwiches that were made that morning for dinner service in the local communities.
A brief description of any pre-consumer food waste composting program employed by the institution:
Clean Plate is a campaign that helps students to set food waste reduction goals in the dining hall on campus and provides proven cause-and-effect solutions. Communications materials in the dining hall speak to students about portion control, and their part in addressing the problem of food waste. Food waste from students is collected in the dining hall, weighed on a scale, and is assigned a value.
A brief description of any post-consumer food waste composting program employed by the institution:
We help support efforts to establish capture systems by partnering with sustainable waste management and/or recycling service companies. Units must properly identify receptacle so that the compostable disposables are properly disposed of for collection for composting.
Clean Plate is a campaign that helps students to set food waste reduction goals in the dining hall on campus and provides proven cause-and-effect solutions. Communications materials in the dining hall speak to students about portion control, and their part in addressing the problem of food waste. Food waste from students is collected in the dining hall, weighed on a scale, and is assigned a value.
One program in practice is coined ‘operation clean plate’. We educate our consumers in our all-you-care-to-eat facilities on the impact of putting more on their plate than they can consume. If each person puts less food on their plate they do not eat, less food is wasted. Also, less food is then produced as the kitchen is not replenishing the taken food. Dining facilities also implemented a tool where they weighed post-consumer waste in the dish room and posted the weight of food thrown away each night to create a ‘challenge’ for the community diners to reduce the number. This process produced amazing results of 27% reduction in dish room waste over the measured period.
Does the institution include the following materials in its waste diversion efforts?:
| Yes or No | |
| Paper, plastics, glass, metals, and other recyclable containers | Yes |
| Food donations | No |
| Food for animals | No |
| Food composting | Yes |
| Cooking oil | Yes |
| Plant materials composting | Yes |
| Animal bedding composting | Yes |
| Batteries | Yes |
| Light bulbs | Yes |
| Toner/ink-jet cartridges | Yes |
| White goods (i.e. appliances) | Yes |
| Laboratory equipment | Yes |
| Furniture | Yes |
| Residence hall move-in/move-out waste | Yes |
| Scrap metal | Yes |
| Pallets | Yes |
| Motor oil | Yes |
| Tires | Yes |
Other materials that the institution includes in its waste diversion efforts:
Sewer sludge from the wastewater treatment plant operations is land applied to adjacent properties where costal rye grass is grown and cut for hay.
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.