Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	69.17
Liaison	Kimberly Reeves
Submission Date	May 21, 2021

STARS v2.2

Agnes Scott College
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	2.22 / 8.00	Susan Kidd Executive Director Center for Sustainability

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Parts 1 and 2. Waste per person

Figures needed to determine total waste generated (and diverted):

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Materials recycled	86.63 Metric tons	29.30 Metric tons
Materials composted	48.87 Metric tons	0 Metric tons
Materials donated or re-sold	8.71 Metric tons	0 Metric tons
Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion	0 Metric tons	0 Metric tons
Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator	215 Metric tons	126.28 Metric tons
Total waste generated	359.20 Metric tons	155.58 Metric tons

If reporting post-recycling residual conversion, provide:

A brief description of the residual conversion facility:

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Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2018	June 30, 2019
Baseline Period	July 1, 2007	June 30, 2008

If end date of the baseline year/period is 2004 or earlier, provide:

A brief description of when and why the waste generation baseline was adopted:

The baseline was adopted across STARS credits based on Agnes Scott's best historic data within recent years. This same baseline has been used across all STARS reports.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	829	726
Number of employees resident on-site	0	0
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	1,025.58	880.77
Full-time equivalent of employees	363	314.60
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	0	0
Weighted campus users	1,248.69	1,078.03

Total waste generated per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total waste generated per weighted campus user	0.29 Metric tons	0.14 Metric tons

Percentage reduction in total waste generated per weighted campus user from baseline:

Part 3. Waste diverted from the landfill or incinerator

Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator by recycling, composting, donating or re-selling, performance year:

40.15

Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator (including up to 10 percent attributable to post-recycling residual conversion):

40.15

In the waste figures reported above, has the institution recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold the following materials?:

	Yes or No
Paper, plastics, glass, metals, and other recyclable containers	Yes
Food	Yes
Cooking oil	Yes
Plant materials	Yes
Animal bedding	No
White goods (i.e. appliances)	No
Electronics	Yes
Laboratory equipment	No
Furniture	Yes
Residence hall move-in/move-out waste	Yes
Scrap metal	No
Pallets	No
Tires	No
Other (please specify below)	No

A brief description of other materials the institution has recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold:

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Optional Fields

Active Recovery and Reuse

Materials intended for disposal but subsequently recovered and reused on campus, performance year:

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Recycling Management

Does the institution use single stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:

Yes

Does the institution use dual stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:

Does the institution use multi-stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:

Contamination and Discard Rates

Average contamination rate for the institution’s recycling program:

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A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed:

Agnes Scott’s waste consultant, MPASS, regularly updates the Center for Sustainability and the Office of Facilities of any large-scale contamination issues occurring on campus. When contamination issues arise the Center increases their recycling education efforts, including peer-to-peer education with the Environmental Residents and the Green Team.

Programs and Initiatives

A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives:

On campus, we practice single-stream recycling. We have indoor recycling bins in every building, outdoor recycling across campus, and individual recycling bins in every residence hall room. We also utilize consistent messaging (both physically and on social media) and are upgrading our bins to be uniform after a building is renovated. Agnes Scott participates annually in Recyclemania. In 2019, Agnes Scott ranked 69th nationally for total waste diversion and 7th nationally for per capita diversion. In both categories, Agnes Scott ranked first in Georgia.

A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:

In Fall 2019, in partnership with the Green Team and MPASS, the Center for Sustainability hosted a waste audit at the Office of Facilities. As a result of this audit, the Center was able to address an issue of illegal dumping/littering at the Office of Facilities.

A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:

Purchasers are encouraged to order in bulk to save on the environmental impacts of shipping and packing, however, purchasers must be certain that all materials purchased in bulk will be put to use and not wasted.

A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:

The Green Team has updated their annual Office Swap from being a once a year event, to securing a designated location within the Bullock Science Center where excess office supplies can be stored and accessed by all campus departments.

A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:

The Agnes Scott Green Team is committed to reducing the quantity of office supplies purchased by the college. They established a Virtual Office Swap site to reduce the amount of items purchased. This information is included in our procurement policy, and also on the Office of Accounting’s website.

A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:

In 2018, the college installed campus-wide networked multi-function devices for printing, photocopying, and scanning. All community members now have printing quotas, and all desktop printers were removed from service.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:

Agnes Scott College does not print course catalogs and schedules, directories, human resources policies, or events calendars. All of this information can now be found online.

The academic course catalog and campus calendar are available for everyone to see on the Agnes Scott College website http://www.agnesscott.edu/academics/catalog and http://calendar.agnesscott.edu/.

Internally the following information is available to students, faculty, and staff online:
- Course schedules, class registration, and grade reports
- Course evaluations
- Online contact directory
- Human resources forms and policies
- Other departmental policies or reports are available through the intranet

A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:

In Spring 2013 the Office of Residence Life, the Center for Sustainability and the International Relations department partnered to create a move-out donation program called Give + Go. This program has continued every year since its creation, except in the Spring of 2020 due to Covid. Students donate unwanted household items, linens, and clothes, which are then collected by faculty and staff during our campus community day. Once collected and sorted, they are picked by the International Rescue Committee, which works with refugees in the Atlanta area. These donations directly benefit local refugees.

A brief description of the institution's programs or initiatives to recover and reuse other materials intended for disposal:

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Website URL where information about the institution’s waste minimization and diversion efforts is available:

https://www.agnesscott.edu/sustainability/waste-diversion/index.html

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Data reported for FY19.

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.