University of Texas at Austin
OP-23: Waste Diversion

o University of Texas at Austin Athletics Sustainability Squad (formerly known as the Tailgate Recycling Program) educates fans to recycle and compost during home athletic events. In an effort to maximize resources and grow waste diversion at football games, the Tailgate Recycling Program was moved from a tailgate initiative to inside the stadium. Passing recycling bags out in the tailgate lots is now part of Landscape Services’ game day operations. This has allowed for an increase of both compost and recycling bins inside the stadium, ensure better coverage of recycling in the tailgate lots, and provide more opportunity for fan engagement and outreach. This program has also expanded within the last three years to host zero waste games at Athletic facilities including baseball, softball, and soccer. o Trash to Treasure is a move-out waste diversion program managed by the Campus Environmental Center. At the end of each semester, bins are placed in all residence halls on campus to collect donated items. These items are then sold at campus garage sales the following year. o Surplus Properties is a state mandated program to redistribute and/or resell all durable items purchased using state funds. o Green Events is a Campus Environmental Center program that provides compostable service ware and sustainable event consulting to student groups on campus. o The Division of Housing and Food Service, University Athletics, AT&T Conference Center, and the UT Elementary School all have post-consumer composting available to customers and patrons in both to-go and “dine in” locations. o DHFS, University Athletics, AT&T Conference Center, University Unions, and the UT Elementary School all have pre-consumer composting programs in their locations. o There are a variety of non-food composting programs including animal bedding composting and landscape composting. o Trees that are removed from campus are milled and made into furniture for campus projects and buildings. o New food service contracts require vendors to provide compostable or recyclable to-go packaging and do not allow the use of Styrofoam. There has been some changes within existing contracts to switch landfill-only items to compostable or recyclable alternatives.

Un-servable but edible food is collected in all dining locations for pick up by a local charity, Austin Baptist Food Pantry. All food items collected during Trash to Treasure are also donated to the local food pantry.

Kitchens contain bins specified for compostable materials including food scraps, soiled paper, and compostable disposable items. These bins are emptied into compost collection containers and taken to an off-site compost facility.

In to-go locations items are served on compostable packaging. There are corresponding compost/landfill/recycling bins that illustrate to users which items belong in which bins. In ‘all you care to eat’ facilities plates with food waste are placed on tray returns by users and are then scraped into compost bins back-of-house.