Overall Rating	Silver
Overall Score	52.60
Liaison	Hayley Berliner
Submission Date	Oct. 23, 2024

STARS v2.2

Trinity College (CT)
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	3.17 / 8.00	Hayley Berliner Sustainability Coordinator Finance & Operations

"---" 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	35.37 Tons	91.86 Tons
Materials composted	64.40 Tons	0 Tons
Materials donated or re-sold	2.98 Tons	1.60 Tons
Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion	0 Tons	0 Tons
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator	549.51 Tons	777.06 Tons
Total waste generated	652.26 Tons	870.52 Tons

If reporting post-recycling residual conversion, provide:

A brief description of the residual conversion facility:

N/A

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2022	June 30, 2023
Baseline Period	July 1, 2017	June 30, 2018

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:

The same baseline is used throughout the report. Baseline adopted as it was the last year without a sustainability coordinator and without a formal composting program.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	1,775	1,857
Number of employees resident on-site	10	9
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	2,157	2,008
Full-time equivalent of employees	635	674
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	0	0
Weighted campus users	2,540.25	2,478

Total waste generated per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total waste generated per weighted campus user	0.26 Tons	0.35 Tons

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

26.91

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:

15.75

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

15.75

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	No
Plant materials	Yes
Animal bedding	No
White goods (i.e. appliances)	Yes
Electronics	Yes
Laboratory equipment	Yes
Furniture	Yes
Residence hall move-in/move-out waste	Yes
Scrap metal	Yes
Pallets	Yes
Tires	Yes
Other (please specify below)	No

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

Trinity College participates in single stream recycling.
Food waste is composted at all dining facilities.
Unserved food is donated to nearby shelters through Food Recovery Network.
plant materials are composted on site.
white goods, furniture, and residence hall move-out waste are re-sold or donated if in good condition.
scrap metal and tires are sent to outside facilities to be recycled.

Optional Fields

Active Recovery and Reuse

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

2.98 Tons

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?:

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

Contamination and Discard Rates

Average contamination rate for the institution’s recycling program:

A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed:

All recycling bins have been labeled with single stream educational posters. Custodians have been trained to recycle bagged items if they perceive there to be less than a 5% contamination rate. Residential Assistants are asked to inform sustainability coordinator of recycling bins they find lined with black bags. Black bags are only used for trash and can create miscommunication.

Programs and Initiatives

A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives:

Within the past year we updated all recycling bin signage.
Trained custodians on better recycling practices.
We are constantly using social platform to remind students of correct waste-related behaviors.
Eco-reps ran a weekly waste sorting game outside of the dining hall to educate students on proper waste disposal.

A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:

none have been conducted in the last 3 years

A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:

none

A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:

A formal office supply swap was created during the fall of 2018. Both the office supply swap, free table, and book exchange program have physical spaces near our Office of Community Service. Our Sustainability Coordinator, with help from students, organizes these areas.

A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:

We run a comprehensive move-out program in both December and May to collect items students no longer want and then either put them on our free table or into our campus thrift store for reuse.

We also have a storage facility where we house unused office furniture which faculty and staff can then request when they need office furniture.

In the Summer of 2023, we set up a textbook program where students can donate their used textbooks to the library so students can borrow them for free rather than purchase new textbooks each semester.

A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:

There is no free printing available to students and double sided printing is the default for all campus computers.

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

All course schedules, catalogs, and directories are available online. Only double sided directories are still being printed and distributed across campus.

A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:

The Sustainability Office and Community Service Office organize an end of semester program called Ditch the Dumpster. This program allows students to donate all reusable items that they no longer want to keep. The items collected are sorted and used to stock our on-campus thrift store, free table, book exchange, and office supply swap. Most clothing, fabric, unopened nonperishable food, and kitchenware are donated to local organizations.

A brief description of the institution's programs or initiatives to recover and reuse other materials intended for disposal:

The Community Service Office collects donations all year long which go to our free table, office supply swap, book swap, and campus thrift store. Anything else gets donated to local organizations

Website URL where information about the institution’s waste minimization and diversion efforts is available:

https://www.trincoll.edu/sustainability/waste-management/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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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.