Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 71.86
Liaison Elida Erickson
Submission Date March 23, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

University of California, Santa Cruz
IN-2: Innovation 2

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Elida Erickson
Sustainability Director
Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Title or keywords related to the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
Zero waste weight-based management practices

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:

Through these interactions, we have been particularly impressed with UCSC’s transition to a cutting edge weight-based charge system, which leads to several triple bottom line benefits including:

• Labor cost reductions as collection operations switch to an on-demand service model.
• More accurate service charges, where departments and buildings are billed for the true, weight-based cost of collecting materials generated rather than the less accurate, industry -standard volumetric, static pickup method. This also helps campus users reduce the total amount of waste and recycling materials generated.
• More accurate monthly reporting on each individual department or building’s progress towards attaining campus-wide zero-waste goals.
• The ability to free up labor for complementary activities such as UCSC’s new on-campus composting operation, which employs existing personnel.
• A resulting agency budget model that embraces the economics of conservation, where operations do not suffer catastrophic losses as users reduce their "unsustainable" activities.


A brief description of any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation (if not reported above):
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A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise:
Which of the following STARS subcategories does the innovation most closely relate to? (Select all that apply up to a maximum of five):
Yes or No
Curriculum ---
Research ---
Campus Engagement ---
Public Engagement ---
Air & Climate ---
Buildings ---
Dining Services ---
Energy ---
Grounds ---
Purchasing ---
Transportation ---
Waste Yes
Water ---
Coordination, Planning & Governance ---
Diversity & Affordability ---
Health, Wellbeing & Work ---
Investment ---

Other topic(s) that the innovation relates to that are not listed above:
Sustainable funding models

The website URL where information about the innovation is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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