Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 65.73
Liaison Gary Cocke
Submission Date May 11, 2023

STARS v2.2

The University of Texas at Dallas
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.89 / 8.00 Gary Cocke
Sustainability Director
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Parts 1 and 2. Waste per person

Figures needed to determine total waste generated (and diverted):
Performance Year Baseline Year
Materials recycled 485.61 Tons 682.80 Tons
Materials composted 26.17 Tons 30.16 Tons
Materials donated or re-sold 22.45 Tons 21.70 Tons
Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion 0 Tons 0 Tons
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator 1,978.43 Tons 1,396.90 Tons
Total waste generated 2,512.66 Tons 2,131.56 Tons

If reporting post-recycling residual conversion, provide:

A brief description of the residual conversion facility:
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Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Period Sept. 1, 2021 Aug. 31, 2022
Baseline Period Sept. 1, 2016 Aug. 31, 2017

If end date of the baseline year/period is 2004 or earlier, provide:

A brief description of when and why the waste generation baseline was adopted:
The performance year is the most previous fiscal year. The baseline year matches the baseline year in other STARS credits.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site 5,154 4,768
Number of employees resident on-site 0 0
Number of other individuals resident on-site 0 0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment 24,954 20,856
Full-time equivalent of employees 3,450 3,188
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education 54 612
Weighted campus users 22,551 18,766

Total waste generated per weighted campus user:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total waste generated per weighted campus user 0.11 Tons 0.11 Tons

Percentage reduction in total waste generated per weighted campus user from baseline:
1.91

Part 3. Waste diverted from the landfill or incinerator

Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator by recycling, composting, donating or re-selling, performance year:
21.26

Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator (including up to 10 percent attributable to post-recycling residual conversion):
21.26

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 No
Other (please specify below) Yes

A brief description of other materials the institution has recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold:
Ink & Toner Cartridges, Batteries, Plastic Film, Shoes & Clothing, Disposable Masks, and Nitrile Gloves

https://sustainability.utdallas.edu/operations/recycling/#special

Optional Fields 

Active Recovery and Reuse

Materials intended for disposal but subsequently recovered and reused on campus, performance year:
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Recycling Management 

Does the institution use single stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
Yes

Does the institution use dual stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
No

Does the institution use multi-stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
No

Contamination and Discard Rates 

Average contamination rate for the institution’s recycling program:
10

A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed:
The Office of Sustainability manages a website where information on what is acceptable in the recycling programs are available. Recycling bins on-campus have the recycling symbol and tape located on them to help differentiate recycling from trash. It is also required that our waste hauler apply and manage signage on outdoor trash/recycling dumpsters that indicate what is acceptable in the single stream recycling. Recycling dumpsters are green and trash is blue.

Programs and Initiatives 

A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives:
The Office of Sustainability manages the UT Dallas participation in RecycleMania on an annual basis.

A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:
Facilities Management (FM) performs a small scale waste and contamination audit within FM. This is managed internally as FM transitioned to smaller clip-on trash bins within the larger blue recycling desk-side bins. This reduces custodial labor hours allocated to emptying trash bins in FM therefore reducing the need for plastic trash bin liners.

A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
The University Sustainability Committee adopted the Sustainable Procurement Guideline – 201802. This guideline encourages the purchasing of office supplies, tools, equipment, and other products that possess and “environmental preferable” designation.

A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:
Surplus (Property Administration) can pick up most types of smaller technology-related equipment such as desktop computers, laptop computers, docking stations, monitors, desktop printers, desktop scanners, desktop copy/fax/print machines, keyboards, speakers, mice, cables and servers. The Move and Events team can pick up larger equipment such as furniture (desks, chairs, file cabinets, bookcases), books, server racks, large copy/fax/print machines, large televisions and pallets of mixed items (e.g.: computers mixed with furniture).

Inventory and Surplus designates specific sales periods that are announced on the Auxiliary Services website throughout the year that allow students, faculty and staff to purchase certain properties, such as furniture, bicycles and computer equipment.

A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:
The university bookstore offers a book buyback program.

Clothing Donation for reuse: The Comet Closet seeks to supply students with business professional and business casual attire. Their purpose is to help students land interviews for their first internship(s) and/or job(s). The Gender Center Transition Closet accepts clothing donations for students, staff, and faculty going through life transitions including gender transition, disaster, pregnancy, and more.

A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:
The Eugene McDermott Library offers printing services for a small charge per page. Departments that do offer free printing, limit the printing pages to 20 at a time and allow only black and white. Certain departments allow $20 free black and white printing/year.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:
UT Dallas has all institutional policies available online. Each policy is available in PDF format to discourage printing.

A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:
Every Fall semester during move-in, The Office of Sustainability and Housing partner to host the annual Move In Cardboard Recycling event to reduce the cardboard sent to the landfill.

A brief description of the institution's programs or initiatives to recover and reuse other materials intended for disposal:
Waste minimization is encouraged through materials readily available in online formats. For example, shared drives are used among university staff to reduce the need for individual printing.

The Sustainability Office, in partnership with Trex Recycling, has implemented a recycling program that targets plastic wrap and film materials at UT Dallas.

Trex Recycling Program Website
http://www.trex.com/recycling/recycling-programs/


Operation Upcycle, hosted by the Office of Student Volunteerism, allows students to participate in the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

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:
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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.