| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 78.48 |
| Liaison | Patrick McKee |
| Submission Date | June 20, 2016 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of Connecticut
OP-23: Waste Diversion
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.40 / 3.00 |
Eric
Grulke Sustainability Coordinator Office of Environmental Policy |
Materials diverted from the solid waste landfill or incinerator:
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator :
A brief description of programs, policies, infrastructure investments, outreach efforts, and/or other factors that contributed to the diversion rate, including efforts made during the previous three years:
• WilliWaste Single Stream Recycling: 1,051.73 tons
• WilliWaste Clean Fill: 153.68 tons
• Volleyball Court Clean Fill: 70 tons
• Compost Facility: 800 tons
• eCorect Food Waste: 43.65 tons
• Surplus Reuse: 150.80 tons
• Give & Go Donations: 4.34 tons
• Leaves and Trimmings Recycled: 200 tons
• Furniture/Mattress Recycling: 187.78 tons
• Electronic Waste
In addition to the quantified efforts above, coffee grounds are given away to students and staff from our campus cafes to use in gardening.
Also, UConn’s student organization, EcoHusky, promotes recycling at UConn by tabling around campus with posters that explain the mixed recycling program. Tabling also includes various recycling learning games, like a matching game for recyclables, and a “basketball” where participants must throw recyclable items into the designated recycling bin, and non-recyclables into the waste bin. Additionally, the OEP organizes 3 Green Game Days per year. During these games, volunteers from EcoHusky and EcoHouse, an environmental learning community, attend football and basketball games to educate fans on the importance of recycling, and collect bottles to bring to large recycling bins post-game.
A brief description of any food donation programs employed by the institution:
In partnership with UConn Dining Services and UConn Community Outreach, Food Recovery collects and delivers surplus food to the Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic, CT. Every weekday morning student volunteers arrive at the Library’s Bookworms Café to collect any prepackaged foods like salads and sandwiches that were not sold during the previous day. Bookworms receives all the unsold food products from all UConn Cafes as it is the last one to close. The volunteers then drive the food to the Covenant Soup Kitchen. Students also collect food from Putnam and Towers dining halls. This is food that has not been put out to serve yet and is not made up of salad bar items. Food is transported in cambro containers or produce bags depending on the type of food being donated. Volunteers usually pick food up once or twice a week from Uconn Dining Halls. Food safety is the number one priority as Food Recovery is careful to keep track of the temperatures of the food en route from UConn to Willimantic.
A brief description of any pre-consumer food waste composting program employed by the institution:
Dining Services uses Somat’s eCorects in five of our dining halls. We add to this dehydrator food waste from our preparation areas. This may be a mix of vegetable as well as meat products. Currently the end product is being saved for use in garden composting. We currently are processing approximately 8,712 gallons of pre-consumer waste.
A brief description of any post-consumer food waste composting program employed by the institution:
Dining Services uses Somat’s eCorrects in five of our dining halls. The eCorrects process post-consumer waste that is derived from our dish rooms. These are currently processing approximately 34,848 gallons.
Does the institution include the following materials in its waste diversion efforts?:
| Yes or No | |
| Paper, plastics, glass, metals, and other recyclable containers | Yes |
| Food donations | Yes |
| Food for animals | --- |
| Food composting | Yes |
| Cooking oil | Yes |
| Plant materials composting | Yes |
| Animal bedding composting | Yes |
| Batteries | Yes |
| Light bulbs | Yes |
| Toner/ink-jet cartridges | Yes |
| White goods (i.e. appliances) | Yes |
| Laboratory equipment | Yes |
| Furniture | Yes |
| Residence hall move-in/move-out waste | Yes |
| Scrap metal | Yes |
| Pallets | Yes |
| Motor oil | Yes |
| Tires | --- |
Other materials that the institution includes in its waste diversion efforts:
Give & Go is a program meant to divert waste during the move out week for undergraduates living in dorms. Each dorm complex has a manned collection point throughout the move out week. The diverted items are then donated to local charities. Close to 35 tons of donated goods were collected from 2009 to 2015.
About 8,687 pounds (4.34) of donated goods were collected in 2015 alone.
• Towels: 45 pounds
• Laundry: 20 pounds
• Office supplies: 312 pounds
• Appliances: 1,836 pounds
• Chair:179 pounds
• Household: 388 pounds
• Shelving/storage: 773 pounds
• Other: 22 pounds
• Toiletries: 49 pounds
• Cleaning: 45 pounds
• Table: 107 pounds
• Laundry: 5 pounds
• Bedding: 634 pounds
• Bike: 26 pounds
• Clothes/other: 16 pounds
• Clothes: 1,275 pounds
• Books: 166 pounds
• Rugs: 1,727 pounds
• Futon: 364 pounds
• Food: 417 pounds
• Miscellaneous: 235 pounds
• Lamps: 46 pounds
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.