| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65.09 |
| Liaison | Shane Stennes |
| Submission Date | Jan. 11, 2023 |
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.86 / 8.00 |
Carley
Rice Sustainability Coordinator Facilities Management |
Figures needed to determine total waste generated (and diverted):
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Materials recycled | 1,390.34 Tons | 2,176.40 Tons |
| Materials composted | 1,176.10 Tons | 362.80 Tons |
| Materials donated or re-sold | 312.84 Tons | 152.30 Tons |
| Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion | 0 Tons | 0 Tons |
| Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator | 3,712.90 Tons | 6,501.40 Tons |
| Total waste generated | 6,592.18 Tons | 9,192.90 Tons |
A brief description of the residual conversion facility:
After sorting out compostable, recyclable, and reusable materials, the remaining waste is sent to the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) where garbage is burned to create energy.
Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
| Start Date | End Date | |
| Performance Period | July 1, 2019 | June 30, 2020 |
| Baseline Period | Jan. 1, 2008 | Dec. 31, 2008 |
A brief description of when and why the waste generation baseline was adopted:
NA
Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Number of students resident on-site | 7,518 | 6,555 |
| Number of employees resident on-site | 18 | 15 |
| Number of other individuals resident on-site | 3 | 4 |
| Total full-time equivalent student enrollment | 47,039 | 44,934 |
| Full-time equivalent of employees | 17,531 | 17,954 |
| Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education | 398 | 0 |
| Weighted campus users | 50,016 | 48,812.50 |
Total waste generated per weighted campus user:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Total waste generated per weighted campus user | 0.13 Tons | 0.19 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 | Yes |
| White goods (i.e. appliances) | No |
| 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) | Yes |
A brief description of other materials the institution has recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold:
Have a robust ReUse Program that takes any non-hazardous unwanted materials and attempts to reuse, sell, donate, recycle or otherwise divert these materials from the waste stream.
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:
Education, general signage, specialty signage, contaminate-specific signage, visual inspection, waste audits, and fully operational MRF.
A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives:
Ever evolving and expanding programs dedicated to continually diverting recoverable materials. (Example: Sustainability Advocates program)
A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:
Visual inspections, routine single stream audits, full building week-long complete MSW waste audits.
A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
On-going partnership with procurement via quarterly meetings.
A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:
25,000 sq ft facility that accepts any unwanted non-hazardous materials for diversion by reuse on campus, sales to the public, auction, donation, refurbishment, or processing to recover metals and resins before disposal.
A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:
We encourage the use of the ReUse Program for this.
A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:
A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:
The robust program called Pack & Give Back supports HRL and WRS that collects unwanted student-owned materials and redistributes them to incoming students and or sells them to the general public.
A brief description of the institution's programs or initiatives to recover and reuse other materials intended for disposal:
ReUse Program
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.