University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
OP-22: Waste Minimization

The university became the first in the state to hire a full-time Sustainability Coordinator in 2001.

A 2010 Environmental Studies capstone course project conducted for the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling developed the protocol for waste audits on campus. The report is available at http://www.ie.unc.edu/for_students/courses/capstone/10/waste_audit_final_report.pdf Waste audits have subsequently been performed in multiple campus buildings.

Bulk dispensers are used to reduce packaging in the Dining Halls, i.e. - juices, sodas, milk, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, BBQ sauce, and cereals. The electronic procurement website defaults most virgin paper purchases to 30% post-consumer recycled content. The UNC men’s basketball team periodically wears uniforms made from recycled plastic bottles. The jerseys are made from at least 96% recycled polyester, while the shorts are made from 100% recycled polyester. Twenty-two bottles go into making each uniform. Carolina’s graduation robes are also made from recycled plastic bottles.

University property considered unusable or unserviceable can be sent to the Surplus Property Warehouse. The Warehouse sells used equipment and furniture at deeply discounted prices to University departments and the general public. The Asset Management Trading Post is an informal online marketplace that allows University employees to find or make available both office and lab equipment.

Course catalogs, campus directories, accounting forms, and purchasing requisitions are now available electronically instead of printed.

At the beginning of each semester “ITS Print Plan” funds become available for all full-time, fee-paying students. Students can print $40 / 800 pages per semester and $17.50 / 350 pages for each summer session. Black and white printing costs $.05 per side of printed material. Color printing costs $.30 per side. The ITS Print Plan fund can only be used towards printing done in the ITS Labs supported locations. The funds do not roll over to the next semester or session. Double-sided printing is the default setting.

When almost 9,000 students move onto campus in a week, the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling recruits additional personnel to staff dumpster sites. In August 2013, these crews recovered 18 tons of cardboard, 800 pounds of plastic film, and 520 pounds of Styrofoam for recycling. During move-out in May, the Department of Housing and Residential Education and the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling set up donation stations in each residence hall or community. Residents may donate clothing, office supplies, personal care items, furniture, appliances, books, and food. In 2013, the move-out donation stations collected approx. 9 tons of these items. Since 2012, donations are picked up and used by Durham-based non-profit TROSA (Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers), which uses the items in their residential treatment programs or multiple reuse businesses. Broken electronics are sent for recycling to American Greenz in Durham, and used bedding is donated to Paws4Ever, a local no-kill animal shelter. Off campus students could take their extra items to the county's Reuse Rodeo and multiple convenience centers. DHRE and OWRR promote the donation stations using a social marketing campaign--“Don’t Ditch It. Donate It!”-- throughout residence hall and campus media.

UNC competes in the Game Day Challenge, a friendly competition between colleges and universities to see which institution can reduce and recycle the most waste from a single home football game. UNC received a Carolina Recycling Association Award for its achievements in 2011. UNC participated in the first RecycleMania Basketball Game Day Challenge and performed a waste audit after a home basketball game in 2013.

Since 2010, the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling and various student volunteers have conducted waste assessments in a wide range of campus spaces. Preliminary waste audits indicate that compostable materials are still the largest part of the waste stream. Food waste, food-soiled paper, compostable bio-plastics, and other organics were found to constitute up to 49% of the waste stream. In some buildings, more than 75% of the discards could be recycled or composted. OWRR, along with partners in Carolina Dining Services, Athletics, and student government are exploring ways to capture more compostable materials.

Carolina Dining Services collects food scraps for composting from Rams Head and Lenoir Dining Halls, the Beach Café, Alpine Bagel Café, Wendy’s, the Friday Center, and select Carolina catering events. Since 2012, Front-of-house composting has been available in front of Freshens, located on Lenoir Mainstreet.

Carolina Dining Services worked with a representative of the Sustainability Living Learning Community in Morrison Residence Hall to create a food waste awareness campaign. The resulting poster emphasizes all the resources required to prepare a plate of food. Diners in both dining halls encounter this message every time they clear the table and approach the dish line. The absence of trays since 2007 also encourages students to take smaller portions and return for seconds rather than generate food waste.

Since 2009, both dining halls provide reusable food containers for students on meal plans. (Non-meal plan members and students who lose their first container may purchase a container for $3.50.) Once used, the container is exchanged for a clean and sanitized unit. This three-compartment, polypropylene clamshell is now the only to-go container in use at the dining halls. Since the program's inception, approximately 76,000 Styrofoam containers have been eliminated annually. The reusable containers are stackable, break resistant, dishwasher safe, microwave safe for reheating, BPA free, recyclable (#5 plastic) and can withstand temperatures ranging from 32 to 180 degrees.

All “dine in” meals are served on reusable dishes and eaten with reusable flatware. The plates and cups at the Top of Lenoir Dining Hall are made in part of bamboo, a renewable resource. Recycled content napkins and compostable straws are provided in the dining halls so that all post-consumer food waste may be composted. CDS utilizes compostable to-go boxes at select retail dining locations where post-consumer composting is available.

For the last 4 years, Carolina Dining Services (CDS) has offered a 10% discount for all customers who bring a CDS reusable mug into the retail locations for beverage purchases. The program was recently expanded to include both hot and cold beverages and a 20% discount for all that purchase and utilize the CDS reusable drink container. At non-CDS retail dining locations, reusable mug discounts vary by location, though they are honored across campus.

CDS recycles fryer oil from the dining halls. Fryer oil is first filtered to double its cooking life. Waste fryer oil is shipped to refineries, primarily in North Carolina, that produce clean biodiesel fuels. CDS staff tracks food production and consumption and uses this information to better forecast food production needs in the future.