Zero Waste Expands to School of Medicine

The Office of Sustainability is wrapping up the early adopter phase of the Zero Waste Building System with the expansion to the School of Medicine (SOM). Thanks to colleagues in the Office of Facilities Planning and Management (OFPM) within SOM and our custodial partner ABM, all fourteen SOM buildings now have recycling bins in labs as well as compost collection in bathrooms, breakrooms, and kitchens.  

Over the past six weeks, the team deployed over 3,000 new bins in nearly 500 labs across 50 floors (as high as almost four Hoover Towers!), covering over 2.8 million square feet. Many of the existing bins will be cleaned and repurposed, and the rest will be recycled.

The Office of Sustainability coordinated with lab managers, principal investigators, and other staff and faculty to ensure each lab’s needs were met. Joe Amaral, facilities coordinator at SOM, shares, “The team effort between the OFPM, the Office of Sustainability, and ABM was outstanding.  We cemented a great relationship between our teams that will be very helpful to continue this very important effort.”

Stanford’s latest study revealed that 62% of the waste we send to landfill could be recycled or composted. The Zero Waste Building System addresses this by providing convenient, color-coded bins with clear signage to help people properly sort and help us reach our Zero Waste by 2030 goal.

Other early adopters of the Zero Waste Building System include Stanford Redwood City, Residential & Dining Enterprises, the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation, the Graduate School of Education, the Graduate School of Business, Information Technology, Student Affairs, the childcare centers, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.