Access for All: Zero Waste Update Completed

As of Summer 2024, the entire campus has access for the first time to recycling and composting. Proper sorting is now easier than ever, with over 9,000 new bins installed, thousands more reused, and over 30,000 new labels and signs added. These additions ensure everyone has access to recycling and composting and makes sorting simple and convenient. This effort contributed to Stanford achieving its highest diversion rate ever in 2023, at 69%. 

“These infrastructure updates are critical to achieving a wasteless community and complying with state regulations. However, culture and behavior change around waste reduction, reuse, and proper sorting are also needed,” says Julie Muir, Associate Director for Zero Waste Systems.

To all of the Sustainable Stanford partners — including our waste service provider PSSI, our custodial partners UG2 and ABM, TQM, in-house custodians, building managers, facility directors, and other champions — we could not have done this without your help and support! We are incredibly lucky and grateful to have such amazing partners within the Stanford community and beyond.

It all started in April of 2021. As the campus was quiet, Muir, inspired by the Stanford Waste Characterization in 2019 and the Zero Waste Plan in 2020, began a pilot program to enhance the waste system on campus. It started with 14 buildings from different schools, representing a diverse array of contributors to Stanford’s waste stream—from small to large buildings, to labs and office spaces, and modern and historic locations. 

In each of these 14 buildings, three pivotal changes were made to the waste system: recycling was streamlined, compost collection was added, and shared waste stations became the standard. Over the course of four months, the pilot demonstrated dramatic increases in diversion within buildings – between 29 to 44%! This means that more material was being recovered through recycling and composting, and less material was being buried in a landfill. Diversion rate increases this significant are rare, especially since Stanford historically and consistently reduced or diverted over 60% of the waste generated. These results demonstrated the immense impact these system changes could have.

This success spurred a plan for updating the waste system across the entire campus. The new waste system includes: 

• Streamlined recycling
  • All recyclables (glass, paper, plastic, and metal) can now be placed into a single bin for easy sorting.
  • Flattened cardboard can be placed in or next to a waste station to make recycling cardboard more convenient.
• Compost collection
  • New compost bins have been placed in restrooms, breakrooms, and kitchens to collect paper towels, food scraps, and compostable foodware in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Shared waste stations
  • Stations are located in common areas throughout a building for increased access to recycling and composting.
  • Individuals are responsible for bringing personal waste to a station in a common area to reduce landfill waste.
• Color-coding
  • To comply with state law and facilitate easy sorting, bins, signs, bags, and dumpsters are all color-coded (blue for recycling, green for compost, and black for landfill).
• New signage to facilitate quick, easy, and accurate waste sorting

By updating the waste system in every academic building, the project team was able to see every waste bin and explore the campus in a unique way, seeing many places few people get to know. Some of the most memorable stops on our campus tour included the highest waste bins on campus, in Hoover Tower and at the Student Observatory; the tunnels of the School of Medicine, through which semi-trucks’ worth of new bins were delivered to the labs; and many places with incredible architecture and views, from the Knoll to Cantor Arts and the top of Margaret Jacks. The project team even came across one of the oldest recycling bins still remaining on campus, a paper bin from the 1980s, located in the History Department!

Recycling and composting are some of the easiest actions you can take every day to combat climate change and help Stanford reach our zero waste goal. Do your part and help contribute to a wasteless community by properly sorting your waste!