University of North Carolina, Greensboro
OP-22: Waste Minimization

To maintain consistency with our prior STARS submissions, we are continuing to use the 2005-06 fiscal year as our baseline.

Landfill on the Lawn is an event held every March (to coincide with Recyclemania). During Landfill on the Lawn dumpster contents are emptied in a public space during peak pedestrian traffic times for educational purposes. The waste is sorted into two categories: recyclables are sorted into clear bags and non-recyclable items are sorted into black bags. At the conclusion of the event it is evident on how many recyclables were in the dumpster. Dumpsters that are audited can be Recycling Dumpsters, to determine how much contamination is present, or Trash Dumpsters, to focus on how many recyclables were lost. Further, smaller scale audits at the office level are part of the baseline measurements for the Green Office Program.

UNCG has two programs to address surplus goods. The first, SpartanSwap, allows individuals to post items a department no longer needs to a university website for claim prior to being moved to the surplus warehouse or the landfill. SpartanSwap is entirely user-maintained, giving employees the ability to add or delete campus-wide listings for items as they are procured by or delivered to other departments. In the second program, surplus items are offered by UNCG Warehouse Services. Surplus property that is not claimed within the SpartanSwap program, as well as other surplus goods, are stored at the warehouse and made available free of charge via transfer to campus departments. The property is also offered to other state agencies and not-for-profit organizations. Finally, the general public may purchase these items during monthly Public Surplus Sales. The "Got Surplus?" program streamlines this process. Warehouse Services has created this online inventory that is updated as new items are submitted. This inventory can be viewed online by any UNCG employee. When a new item is submitted, an automated email is sent to the warehouse with dynamically generated barcodes for the item. Users receive an email copy of their submission so no paper form is needed. This allows the warehouse staff to accurately track items that move through the warehouse and to the public sale.

The Registrar's office does not print undergraduate course catalogs or course schedules, and the campus phone directory has not been printed since 2007. Further, the Graduate School stopped printing its bulletin in 2012-2013. Several publications, including the University Campus Weekly, are now distributed electronically, and efforts continue to make online reading easier.

Printing in UNCG libraries costs 6 cents per double-sided page - all printers in the Libraries are set to duplex printing to reduce waste. This fee applies to all patrons, including faculty, staff, and guests. However, students are allocated 75 free pages per semester (40 pages for summer) in Information Technology Services-sponsored labs, including the Superlab located in Jackson Library.

UNCG's Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling (OWRR) oversees a program called "Cram and Scram" to reduce waste generated during move-out. At the end of each Spring semester, roll-carts are placed in the lobbies of each residence hall where students may place ("Cram") unwanted items that are in good condition before they leave ("Scram") for the summer. All items donated through the Cram & Scram drive are later sold in a rummage sale — proceeds from the sale fund student scholarships to environmental conferences and other environmental learning opportunities, including Earth Day.

Project Clean Plate encourages students to reduce food waste by only taking the amount of food they will eat. Graphs are posted in the campus dining center which represent the amount of food waste produced at UNCG. To supplement this, Dining Services displays plates of uneaten and wasted food on a tables near the waste conveyors so patrons get an idea of how much food is wasted. Dining Services believes that through setting goals, educating diners, giving rewards and making charitable contributions, Project Clean Plate helps raise social awareness on campus. It is implemented in the Spartan Restaurant at the beginning of each semester.

A program to remove trays from campus dining facilities began in 2008. During 2013-14, approximately 95% of meals served on campus were "trayless."

The "Project Green Thumb" refillable mug program gives customers a discount on coffee and soda refills while protecting the environment by reducing the amount of disposables utilized on campus. Mugs are sold in retail dining locations.

Population numbers are available via the Office of Institutional Research. The Fact Book and the Common Data Set reports contain most of the information used here. Information was also received from Mark Davenport of the Office of Institutional Research. Recycling information was submitted by Ben Kunka, OWRR. Baseline year = 2005-06; performance year = 2013-14. Note that demographic data for baseline year were adjusted based on updated data from the Office of Institutional Research.