| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 72.14 |
| Liaison | Teddy Lhoutellier |
| Submission Date | Jan. 26, 2022 |
University of Miami
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.43 / 8.00 |
Teddy
Lhoutellier Sustainability Manager Environmental Health and Safety |
Figures needed to determine total waste generated (and diverted):
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Materials recycled | 1,233 Tons | 849.22 Tons |
| Materials composted | 484 Tons | 502.30 Tons |
| Materials donated or re-sold | 141 Tons | 125.30 Tons |
| Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion | 0 Tons | 0 Tons |
| Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator | 3,565 Tons | 4,481.55 Tons |
| Total waste generated | 5,423 Tons | 5,958.37 Tons |
A brief description of the residual conversion facility:
Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
| Start Date | End Date | |
| Performance Period | June 1, 2020 | May 31, 2021 |
| Baseline Period | June 1, 2012 | May 31, 2013 |
A brief description of when and why the waste generation baseline was adopted:
FY 2013 is the start date of our most recent GHG inventory to ACUPCC/2nd Nature
Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Number of students resident on-site | 3,692 | 4,216 |
| Number of employees resident on-site | 21 | 21 |
| Number of other individuals resident on-site | 20 | 30 |
| Total full-time equivalent student enrollment | 17,162 | 15,613 |
| Full-time equivalent of employees | 10,289 | 7,827 |
| Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education | 482 | 369 |
| Weighted campus users | 21,175 | 18,392.50 |
Total waste generated per weighted campus user:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Total waste generated per weighted campus user | 0.26 Tons | 0.32 Tons |
Percentage reduction in total waste generated per weighted campus user from baseline:
Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator by recycling, composting, donating or re-selling, performance year:
Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator (including up to 10 percent attributable to post-recycling residual conversion):
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 | Yes |
| Furniture | Yes |
| Residence hall move-in/move-out waste | Yes |
| Scrap metal | Yes |
| Pallets | No |
| Tires | No |
| Other (please specify below) | Yes |
A brief description of other materials the institution has recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold:
Toner cartridges from copiers on our campuses.
Food Pantry from Student Government.
Reuse Store for small office supply.
Materials intended for disposal but subsequently recovered and reused on campus, performance year:
Does the institution use single stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
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?:
Average contamination rate for the institution’s recycling program:
A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed:
ECO reps in the residences and Green Patrols on campus spend few hours a week controlling, monitoring and surveying our different recycling programs and reporting on the rate of contamination of our bins.
Waste Management send an warning when a higher contamination rate is detected in our haulings
A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives:
Retrofitting of all buildings towards single stream recycling had started in 2012.
Educational outreach campaigns for Staff, faculty and students are done on a yearly basis. All new students and new hires receive a basic information about good waste segregation practices.
New consistent signage, outdoors bins and lids have been installed in the past 3 years.
UM is also participating in Campus Race to Zero Waste.
http://www.miami.edu/finance/index.php/green_u/recycling/
A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:
Visual Waste audits are done with our vendors experts. A list of recommendations is established and from there actions are taken to improve our rate of diversion.
Yearly, the Office of Sustainability and the Student Government ECO Agency along with ECO reps perform manual Waste Audits of one of our residences MSW container.
The Miami Herbert Business School started tracking its diversion rate after certifying Gold for LEED EBOM recertification.
Food waste and disposable plastic usually come as the 2 first waste stream in the results. It reinforced the rationale behind the Plastic Free Canes Roadmap launched in 2020
https://greenu.miami.edu/topics/waste-diversion/plastic-free/disposable-plastic-free-campaign.html
A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
Waste minimization and bulk purchasing are part of the checklist items that offices need to follow for the Green Office program.
https://greenu.miami.edu/programs/green-office-program/index.html
A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:
UM has a Surplus Property and Storage warehouse that handles all requests for transfers and disposals of University owned property. All materials are sold, refurbished or reused.
An online inventory of items on sale is available on the website:
https://greenu.miami.edu/topics/waste-diversion/reuse-initiatives/UM-Surplus-inventory/index.html
A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:
Several Good Will donation drives (permanent stations, Move out campaigns...) are organized through out the year.
A student managed U Thrift market is hold every Wednesday during our regular Farmers Market.
A ReUse Store is available in one of the administrative buildings to Staff and Faculty to donate and/or procure small office supplies. Most of the supply is donated to a local School material donation bank.
https://greenu.miami.edu/topics/waste-diversion/reuse-initiatives/index.html
A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:
UM Managed Print Services has partnered with Canon Solutions to replace our fleet of printers with multi-task copiers set by default on black ink and double sided.
https://greenu.miami.edu/topics/supply-chain/managed-print-services/index.html
UM Enterprise Content Management is helping departments across the institution to transition to digital transactions, reporting and storage. The University is progressively going paperless.
http://www.miami.edu/index.php/ecm/
UM IT division has transitioned to Cloud based operations throughout the divisions
http://it.miami.edu/a-z-listing/box/index.html
All confidential paper needs to be placed in a Shred-It console. Shred-It recycles all the shredded paper they generate with minimal contamination rate.
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:
All new reports are available online, some of them still have a paper version.
The Platinum MarComm award winning Climate Change Special Report was only released digitally: http://climate.miami.edu
A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:
Like every year, Housing and Residential Life at UM is partnering with Good Will, Feeding South Florida and Waste Management to make sure our used belongings, packaged food don’t end up in a landfill and are reused.
https://greenu.miami.edu/programs/green-housing/green-move-out/index.html
A brief description of the institution's programs or initiatives to recover and reuse other materials intended for disposal:
Toner Cartridge Recycling program:
https://greenu.miami.edu/topics/waste-diversion/toner-cartridges-recycling/index.html
Coffee Ground Composting program:
https://greenu.miami.edu/topics/waste-diversion/yard-waste-food-waste/index.html
E Waste Minimization program:
The U Tech Source in the Bookstore takes students old technology (tablets, phone, laptops). For every device, students receive a trade-in quote.
https://greenu.miami.edu/topics/waste-diversion/electronic-waste/index.html
Website URL where information about the institution’s waste minimization and diversion efforts is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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.