Zero Waste
The University of Florida has a goal of zero waste by 2015. The current recycling rate is nearly 40% or over 6,000 tons of material annually. There are several waste stream diversions throughout campus such as: all yard waste generated on campus is re-purposed into mulch at a local recovery facility, dining services collects cooking-oil waste for recycling, and animal bedding in the Vet school is being decontaminated and composted for commercial forestry.
UF's sustainable culture is possible through the cooperation and commitment of individuals. Everyone's mindset must consider to recycle, lower consumption of disposable goods, reuse or share items, and purchase items with recycled content.
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| http://sustainable.ufl.edu/zero-waste/
Recycling and Reuse
The University Physical Plant Department (PPD) Solid Waste Management Office manages the collection and disposal of all solid waste generated throughout the University. Since, 2008, recycling bins and paper collection bins are placed throughout campus. The recycling program includes collection and recycling services for paper, corrugated cardboard, glass, aluminum, plastic, scrap metal, wooden pallets, concrete, masonry, yard waste, ink cartridges, electronics waste, furniture, office supplies, and "tailgator" game day recycling.
Waste Reduction
There are programs and websites that help you find ways to reduce costs, consolidate messages, and develop more sustainable paper habits.
The UF Surplus Property makes available the purchase of usable materials such as furniture.
Consumers are informed and given resources to take the best practice and strategy for waste reduction through purchasing, leasing, renting, as well as product take-back strategies.
UF is contracted with a private vendor to take-back and refill printer toner cartridges and buy remanufactured ones.
Reducing envelope waste.
Sharing printers.
Placing large trash cans paired with recycling bins to reduce workload for cleaning staff and reduces use of plastic bags.
Donating, sharing, and trading of unneeded office supplies.
Dining services switched all foam products to compostable alternatives. Reusable containers reused for food and drink reduce waste.
A student-run operation educate UF students about the importance of food waste composting and even gives opportunities for students to compost their own food waste.
Work with Environmental Health and Safety to track and safely dispose of all hazardous waste.
Terracycle Brigades
Terracycle is a program that coordinates national recycling systems for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste, and converts the waste into a wide variety of productas and materials:
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UF is pursuing a goal of zero waste by 2015. While there is less than 3 years to the end of 2015, nearly 40% of all materials are currently recycled annually. Which means the left over is still high. I don’t know that much about net zero waste but I don’t think achieving zero waste is that much flexible. For example, in net zero energy we can have a green outsource or in net zero carbon dioxide we can plant trees somewhere else to achieve the goal but in net zero waste we cannot recycle and reduce some waste somewhere out of the university to get the overall zero waste goal. Even when we recycle a material, there is some waste at the end which is not recyclable however we consider it zero waste because it has once been recycled (?). Anyway, there are some materials that are not recyclable. Does anyone know whether they are counted in zero waste calculation or not? If yes how do we compensate it in achieving our zero waste target?
ReplyDeleteTerraCycle is really interesting company. Did not realize that so small company that opens offices around the world. in the UK, Mexico, Brasil and Canada in 2009, followed by France, Germany, Sweden and Argentina in 2010. As of Fall 2011, new programs have been launched in Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Spain and Switzerland. It seems that people have no problem to reused something if you do it in a profession and beautiful way.
ReplyDeleteWhile making UF a zero waste campus would be an ideal goal to achieve, I don’t know if it can be done in the next two years. If the current recycling rate is 40%, I wonder how they are going to account for the other 60 in a short amount of time. The waste reduction programs are sure to make a difference but there is no way of telling by how much. One of the places UF should look at is Turlington. There is a large amount of paper waste being generated on a daily basis and would benefit from a more sustainable solution than having recycling bins spread throughout.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very ambitious goal for the University of Florida in such a short time period. I would definitely be interested in hearing more about this topic. It sounds like they have made good progress by starting a number of programs to recycle items such as ink cartridges and switching to biodegradable food containers. However, what about just “regular” trash that cannot be recycled or sorted that would normally go to the landfill? As nice as it sounds, it may be impossible to get everyone to sort all of their trash when disposing of it. What methods does the university plan on using to reach this goal other than the small programs specific to one type of product?
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