Case Western Reserve University
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
Reporter |
"---"
indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Parts 1 and 2. Waste per person
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Materials recycled | 101 Tons | 308.80 Tons |
| Materials composted | 369 Tons | 5 Tons |
| Materials donated or re-sold | 20 Tons | 0 Tons |
| Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion | 0 Tons | 0 Tons |
| Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator | 852.72 Tons | 1,795 Tons |
| Total waste generated | 1,342.72 Tons | 2,108.80 Tons |
If reporting post-recycling residual conversion, provide:
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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 | Jan. 1, 2021 | Dec. 31, 2021 |
| Baseline Period | July 1, 2011 | June 30, 2012 |
If end date of the baseline year/period is 2004 or earlier, provide:
We selected FY 11-12 as our baseline year because it is the first year that we have what we believe to be the most complete data available, comparable to the performance year.
Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Number of students resident on-site | 4,100 | 2,881 |
| Number of employees resident on-site | 24 | 0 |
| Number of other individuals resident on-site | 10 | 0 |
| Total full-time equivalent student enrollment | 10,456 | 9,636 |
| Full-time equivalent of employees | 4,196 | 6,026 |
| Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education | 282 | 0 |
| Weighted campus users | 11,818.50 | 12,466.75 |
Total waste generated per weighted campus user:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Total waste generated per weighted campus user | 0.11 Tons | 0.17 Tons |
Percentage reduction in total waste generated per weighted campus user from baseline:
32.84
Part 3. Waste diverted from the landfill or incinerator
36.49
Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator (including up to 10 percent attributable to post-recycling residual conversion):
36.49
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 | No |
| Plant materials | Yes |
| Animal bedding | No |
| White goods (i.e. appliances) | No |
| Electronics | No |
| 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:
CWRU has a program whereby our onsite food vendor composts pre-consumer food scraps at our University farm. Our University grounds department also composts all brush, grass, branches, and clippings from campus.
Optional Fields
Active Recovery and Reuse
2
Tons
Recycling Management
Yes
Does the institution use dual stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
Yes
Does the institution use multi-stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
No
Contamination and Discard Rates
10
A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed:
The MRF that we send our materials to has provided us with the 10% figure as their contamination rate overall.
Programs and Initiatives
CWRU participates annually in RecycleMania, now Race to Zero Waste, and uses the competition as an opportunity to benchmark and educate students, staff, faculty and visitors of recycling practices. This is done through signage, bulletin boards, table tents, presentations to individual business units or offices, and other initiatives. Currently, the Office for Sustainability has Student Ambassadors working on programs to revamp the recycling programs within our greek housing through personalized education outreach and system analysis, compost pilot programs with waste station volunteers in several cafeterias, and freecycle and move-out programs with education on reuse of household goods and clothing, as well as other things.
A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:
Waste Audits have been paused during the past several years due to Covid-19, but CWRU has continued to review waste and recycling processes to optimize as much has possible during these abnormal times.
A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
The procurement and facilities department has invested in equipment for refilling bottles of cleaning solutions from a bulk refilling station to reduce the number of bottles that are purchased and disposed of.
A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:
Procurement and distribution services and residential housing maintain exchanges and/or surplus donation programs within CWRU and to other non-profits. The Office for Sustainability frequently is contacted with items that are available for reuse or donation, and have good relationships with area nonprofits who come to campus to pick up as needed. Thwing center, a central building on campus, has taken it upon themselves to collect unwanted furniture items from across campus for an annual sale held each June.
A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:
During the past two years, CWRU students have worked to open a free store - the Physical Resource Center - where they accepted donations from other students, including some of the materials collected at our annual move-out donation event, and made them available for other students at no cost.
A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:
Registered, degree-seeking, undergraduate students are credited $20 per semester for printing using a WEPA printing program through the Student Affairs Division (per page costs vary: $.07/pg BW 1-sided, $.13/pg BW 2-sided, $.49/pg color 1-sided, $.78/pg color 2-sided).
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:
CWRU defaults for the course catalog (called the General Bulletin), schedule of classes, university directory, and student handbooks are to have them available for free online.
A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:
Each spring, the Office for Sustainability, Residence Life, and Housing collaborate to hold REScycle. Students can place unwanted electronics, clothes, non-perishable food, furnishings, etc. that otherwise would have gone into the waste stream in gaylords located in every residence hall starting during reading days before final exams. The materials are then sorted and either donated to local non-profits for re-use/resale, or recycled. During move-in, all corrugated cardboard that is not stored for re-use is collected, baled and recycled.
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:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The number included for materials reused, donated or resold is not a complete number for either our baseline year or the performance year. While there have always been some programs on campus to handle surplus items, they have not always been tracked. The performance year represents waste that was donated via our end-of-year move-out REScycle program and a low estimate of our other furniture donations but is not a complete picture. Items donated outside that program are not currently tracked. We are seeking a more reliable way to track and donate surplus items. CWRU has been working with a consultant team for the past year on evaluating and updating our waste and recycling systems, to include a more thorough transition to single stream recycling.
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.