Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 66.63
Liaison Mike Evans
Submission Date March 3, 2022

STARS v2.2

Williams College
IN-48: Innovation B

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 0.50 Mike Evans
Assistant Director
Zilkha Center
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name or title of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
Atlas Zero Waste Certification

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome that outlines how credit criteria are met and any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation:
Atlas is a holistic assessment framework (developed and managed by Post Landfill Action Network (PLAN)) for measuring waste reduction on college and university campuses. In Stage 1, PLAN assists campuses with the process of understanding and benchmarking exactly what systems they have in place to reduce waste. Atlas Zero Waste Certification™ establishes a benchmark to track future progress towards shared goals. In Stage 2, we assist with the development of a strategic vision to improve or establish new material management systems, infrastructures, and policies to achieve a zero waste campus.

The Atlas assessment looks at every possible material that can exist on a college campus from purchase to disposal. The assessment divides material management into two different scopes (illustrated in the diagram below), based on how those materials are typically procured and used, and ultimately how those materials are managed when it comes time to either reuse, repair, compost, recycle, or dispose of them.
All questions in the Checklist ask about the existence of systems, infrastructure, and policy that demonstrate sustainable materials management, based on best practices that the Atlas team has observed on college campuses across the U.S. Each question is assigned a point value based on where the practice would fall on the zero waste hierarchy (ZWIA).

Optional Fields

A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise or a press release or publication featuring the innovation :
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The Atlas Zero Waste assessment is included on this Zero Waste Action Plan page of the Williams website: https://sustainability.williams.edu/waste/zero-waste-action-plan/

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.