University of California, Irvine
OP-18: Waste Diversion

UC Irvine has a robust recycling and composting program that resulted in an 82% diversion rate for 2012. Every year since 2005, the campus has been able to reduce the amount of material it sends to landfill. In 2011, UCI sent only 20% to landfill (1,895 tons), and in 2012, UCI sent its lowest amount to landfill ever (1,778 tons, 18%). The campus recycles more than 22 commodities using a source-separation program for C&D, metal, wood, paper, pallets, cardboard, and CRV. Every campus office and building has a paper and cardboard recycle program. All classrooms, laboratory buildings, pedestrian pathways, and student housing have a commingled recycle program in addition to the paper and cardboard recycle program. The commingled recycle program was started in 2009 in UCI’s housing communities and expanded by 2012 to include laboratory buildings, campus restaurants, and classrooms. In the first year, 205 tons were diverted; the expansion resulted in diverting 741 tons in 2012. This program recycles all plastics, glass, paper, and metal using a two-bin system. UCI has food composting in all three of its dining commons and at and the 14 campus restaurants. The food composting program started in 2010 with 96 tons collected and has grown to 419 tons in 2012. One of UCI's largest dining commons, Mesa, has been running with zero waste for more than two years. The two other commons, Pippen and Brandywine, are getting close to achieving zero waste status. The Athletic Recreation Center and the Newkirk Alumni House and Conference Center are also our newest facilities to run zero waste. UCI composts 100% of its green waste in a collaborative effort with a local off-site facility using traditional windrow composting. The campust food waste and animal bedding materials are sent to a local processing plan which converts the material into slurry. The slurry is transported to the local water treatment plant’s anaerobic digester. The resulting methane gas is converted to energy that powers the water treatment plant. Some recyclable material still finds its way into the waste stream; UCI delivers all non-recycled waste material to a local material recovery facility, which reclaims additional recyclables before the remainder goes to landfill.

UCI's Solid Waste and Recycle team consists of 15 full-time employees and a fleet of 11 vehicles including electric and bio-diesel fuel vehicles. The campus self-hauls all of its solid waste and recycling to ensure that it makes the greenest diversion choice for each commodity. The Recycle team received monthly training and the custodial team receives annual training in recycling. UCI also teaches about recycling through 15-plus presentations and workshops each year geared towards staff, students, and visitors. UCI invites other colleges to visit and learn best demonstrated practices from its recycling program and, in turn, learns from visitors. The university hosted its first Sustainability Forum, “Creating a Culture of Environmental Stewardship,” targeted toward K-12 and higher education institution educators in 2012. In addition, UCI has 12-14 unpaid student interns working with the recycle team each year, doing resume-worthy projects and earning four college units for each 100 hours worked. Zero waste is within UCI's grasp, and the campus should meet this goal before the UC established deadline of 2020.