| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 60.21 |
| Liaison | Feletia Lee |
| Submission Date | June 28, 2024 |
University of North Carolina, Wilmington
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.80 / 8.00 |
Feletia
Lee Chief Sustainability Officer Office of Sustainability |
Figures needed to determine total waste generated (and diverted):
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Materials recycled | 442.99 Tons | 582.64 Tons |
| Materials composted | 108.05 Tons | 0 Tons |
| Materials donated or re-sold | 0 Tons | 0 Tons |
| Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion | 0 Tons | 0 Tons |
| Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator | 1,150 Tons | 1,457.07 Tons |
| Total waste generated | 1,701.04 Tons | 2,039.71 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 | July 1, 2022 | June 30, 2023 |
| Baseline Period | July 1, 2017 | June 30, 2018 |
A brief description of when and why the waste generation baseline was adopted:
It is difficult for the university to report diversion numbers because we do not get the weights of our daily landfill services. The landfill disposal numbers are strictly estimates derived from the size of the can and an estimated weight at 25% full.
FY18 is a good baseline year to compare our efforts because it is fairly recent, and the necessary studies were conducted to obtain the numbers for that baseline year.
Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Number of students resident on-site | 4,918 | 4,326 |
| Number of employees resident on-site | 16 | 10 |
| Number of other individuals resident on-site | 0 | 0 |
| Total full-time equivalent student enrollment | 16,133 | 14,814 |
| Full-time equivalent of employees | 2,197 | 2,072 |
| Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education | 4,552 | 3,032 |
| Weighted campus users | 11,567 | 11,474.50 |
Total waste generated per weighted campus user:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Total waste generated per weighted campus user | 0.15 Tons | 0.18 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 | Yes |
| Tires | Yes |
| Other (please specify below) | No |
A brief description of other materials the institution has recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold:
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:
The Recycling Department manually sorts all recycling before being bailed and sold. Additionally, ample signage, educational social media, frequent outreach events, and source separate practices to preserve the quality fiber materials is employeed to ensure quality control.
A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives:
UNCW participates in Campus Race to Zero Waste, which is a competition between universities that encourages UNCW students and employees to increase the amount of waste they personally recycle. The Campus Race to Zero Waste electronics drive occurs every March to encourage students, faculty, staff, and community members to recycle E-Waste. Participating dining locations on campus will give discounts for beverages if the consumer brings their own cup for refilling.
A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:
Campus Dining facilitates quarterly waste audits for dining hall waste stations.
A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
According to the University of North Carolina Sustainability Policy the university is dedicated to Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) which emphasizes that any purchasing shall, to the extent practicable, improve the environmental performance of its supply chain with consideration given to toxicity, recycled content, energy and water efficiency, rapidly renewable resources, and local production and shall also improve the social performance of its supply chain with consideration given to working conditions and historically underutilized businesses. The UNC Policy Manual highlights the guideline on Recycling which states that each campus should promote the purchase of commodities which are manufactured with recycled products where economically feasible. Additionally several practices of sustainable procurement are seen at small scales within the university and the utilization of surplus is important to prevent waste.
A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:
Surplus Property encompasses all university property no longer in use by a university department. University departments transfer all property and equipment to Surplus Property as soon as it is determined that the property is no longer needed.
A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:
The Seahawk Swap Shop is a newly implemented peer-to-peer exchange and reuse program at the university. The Seahawk Swap Shop is a free store open to all students, faculty, and staff with clothing items, household items, shoes, accessories, kitchen items, etc. Individuals do not need to donate to shop. This location is an excellent display of sustainability as an exchange program and serves as an outlet of exchange, reducing landfill waste and improving the circularity within the university.
A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:
Students are given 100 "free" copies at the beginning of the semester, they must pay for anything after that. .
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:
Very few mass produced documents are still printed by the university. UNCW does not print course catalogs, they can only be found on the UNCW website. The entire universities directory is also found on the website.
A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:
The Office of Sustainability facilitates UNCW's move-out program, Closet Clean Out, which encourages students to donate their unwanted items. In partnership with other campus groups, we provide 20 storage containers for students to donate unwanted items instead of disposing of them. The items are then hand-sorted by staff and volunteers and re-distributed into the community to local community partners such as Vintage Values, Manos Unidas, and Infant of Prague Catholic Church. In 2023, Closet Clean Out kept 9500 pounds of material (not including furniture) out of the landfill.
There is also a large amount of resources and education on campus in both move-in and move-out describing how to recycle all items, including e-cycling.
Since the program began, we've gone from having 30 30-yard dumpsters across campus to ten - half of which are 15-yard containers.
A brief description of the institution's programs or initiatives to recover and reuse other materials intended for disposal:
All fryer oil from Campus Dining locations is converted into biodiesel. Motor oil is also recycled. UNCW is almost completely plastic bag free with the exception of those businesses required by franchise.
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:
Recycling numbers provided from Amelia Woodruff, UNCW's Recycling Coordinator.
Compost numbers provided by Campus Dining
UNC System Sustainability Policy
UNC System Recycling Guidelines
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.