Posted by Johann Nacario — November 18, 2024 — International recycling and waste container brand Busch Systems in collaboration with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), National Wildlife Federation, College & University Recycling Coalition (CURC), Zero Waste Campus Council and Campus Race to Zero Waste, have completed a survey and report of the findings of 170 campus sustainability and facilities managers.
Publication image courtesy of Busch Systems. Click to view report.
A new report released highlights the growing trend of higher education institutions adopting practices such as uniform waste bin standards and centralized collection arrangements shown to improve recycling and waste diversion. The report, Indoor Waste & Diversion at Colleges and Universities, summarizes the findings from a survey of 170 campus sustainability and facilities managers conducted earlier this year, including lessons learned from the schools that have implemented these best practices.
Among the findings, the report found of participating schools:
- 44% have adopted a self-service arrangement that shifts responsibility from custodians to individual staff and faculty for removing personal waste from office workstations.
- Removing waste baskets from classrooms and directing students to use common area bins resulted in increased diversion, lower contamination and reduced labor demand for a majority of schools as well as reduced classroom litter for a third of them.
- 63% make at least some effort to recover food waste from academic and administrative areas of campus.
Campus diversion efforts often face diminishing returns as outdated collection arrangements designed for trash removal create barriers to recycling behavior. Previous research has shown that the same practices covered in the report can be effective to modernize these arrangements and improve material recovery rates.
Project manager Alec Cooley, senior advisor with Busch Systems, noted:
The report adds further evidence that practices like creating uniform bin standards and centralized collection arrangements are effective for moving campuses closer to zero waste.
The findings of the survey project where formally announced during a session at the AASHE 2024 Conference & Expo in Anaheim, California.
To download the full Indoor Waste & Diversion at Colleges and Universities report, visit Busch Systems.
