University of Washington, Seattle
OP-17: Waste Reduction

UW Recycling Mission and Vision is as follows: Our Mission To serve as a leader in sustainability by providing innovative recycling, composting and waste reduction solutions with unmatched passion for the health of our campus and our planet. Our Vision To achieve a sustainable campus by promoting personal environmental responsibility and actions that minimize waste and maximize recycling. UW Recycling has four initial goals to help the University meet its waste diversion goals of 70% by 2020. These include: • Implement the MiniMax self-service deskside recycling program campus wide in all buildings. We have already rolled it out to 4,600 work stations in 37 different buildings on campus. MiniMax is a self-service waste and recycling program that helps build awareness around recycling and composting and promotes personal responsibility for waste generation. (see: http://www.washington.edu/facilities/building/recyclingandsolidwaste/minimax) • Expand composting options available to the campus community either in academic buildings or existing exterior public areas. UW Recycling recently replaced outdoor garbage cans on Red Square (a high traffic public area place) with high-tech, automated kiosks that collect compostable, recyclable and landfill-bound waste. The Solar Kiosk consists of three units for sorting waste – composting, recycling and garbage. Powered sustainably by the sun, the kiosks contain technology to help us maximize and monitor waste collection. Red Square was selected because it is a high food waste consumption area, and hosts many events year-round. There are seven Solar Kiosks around Red Square, with six more coming online outside the newly renovated Student Union building (the HUB) in Fall 2012. This is the first public area compost collection at UW, and it’s the first program of its type at a college or university nationwide. More importantly, the kiosks are already showing a significant impact. In the first month of use, the total volume of waste collected on Red Square was 42% compostable. That’s roughly 2,200 pounds of compostable material kept out of the landfill. The remaining volume was 38% recyclable and only 20% actual garbage. • Pilot a paper towel composting program in early 2013, Paper towels are a high volume waste collected on campus and we want to determine the infrastructure needed to effectively segregate for composing. • Continue to engage the campus community through unique and innovative educational programs and trainings.