Creating a Wasteless Community
Stanford’s vision is to establish a model wasteless community that takes a scalable, holistic, systems approach to advance zero waste culture & waste justice.
Stanford University has set an ambitious goal of reaching zero waste by 2030 - this means reducing or diverting 90% of waste from the landfill.
Zero Waste
In 2023, Stanford hit its highest diversion rate yet at 69%.
Stanford has a long history of waste reduction and has consistently diverted over 60% of waste from the landfill over the past two decades.
Getting to Zero
To achieve a wasteless community, Stanford leverages data, standards, technology, and behavior change to advance zero waste systems and develop a culture of waste reduction.
Data
Annual waste characterization studies: Beginning in Fiscal Year 2024-2025, Stanford will be conducting annual waste characterization studies to assess the types of materials going to landfill. The University’s latest waste characterization study revealed that with proper sorting and updates to the waste system, Stanford could send as little as 6% of waste to landfill. This led to system improvements to increase access to recycling and composting, which helped contribute to Stanford achieving its highest diversion rate ever in 2023 at 69%.
Monthly Waste Audits: Monthly waste audits of select landfill dumpsters are conducted to provide campus customers with valuable data to reduce waste and increase diversion.
Ongoing Inspections: Stanford’s Office of Sustainability conducts regular inspections of the interior waste collection system to ensure the infrastructure is set up for success and to monitor for contamination.
Standards
The University’s waste system standards ensure the infrastructure on campus is designed for zero waste. Elements of the interior collection system include:
Shared waste stations - all three streams are placed together (recycle, compost, and landfill). There are no stand-alone bins allowed in shared spaces. Bins, bags, and dumpsters are all color-coded; blue for recycling, gray for landfill, and green for compost. Shared waste stations are strategically located throughout a building and are labeled and branded. Individuals are responsible for sorting their waste at the shared stations and custodians are responsible for servicing the shared waste stations (in lieu of deskside bins) on a daily basis.
Single Stream Recycling - all recyclable material is collected together in blue bins (combining paper, cardboard, plastics, metal, and glass). Flattened cardboard can be placed in or next to a shared waste station.
Compost Collection - food scraps, paper towels, and compostable food service ware are collected in green bins daily in break rooms, kitchens, and in restrooms.
Technology
Waste collection trucks - Stanford’s waste service provider, PSSI, uses an industry-leading fleet management system that uses cameras and sensors on collection trucks to ensure safe driving practices, monitor equipment to increase efficiencies, and reduce liabilities in real-time. Cameras are used to record material emptied into the trucks and, with the help of AI, provide critical data on the top contaminants. Additionally, technology is used to monitor the capacity of dumpsters to ensure they are right-sized for each building, which can reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and help divert additional material away from the landfill.
Mobile app for contamination monitoring - With the help of AI, Stanford is able to inspect the interior waste system to ensure the infrastructure is set up for success and to monitor for contamination. This helps identify progress by individual building and celebrate those with high diversion and help course-correct those with low diversion.
Behavior
Creating a zero waste culture - Creating a culture of zero waste on campus is key to creating a wasteless community. Stanford’s Office of Sustainability employs a social scientist to help guide programming by incorporating behavior change principles.
Leveraging Stanford as a living lab for sustainability - Using Stanford as a Living Lab, we partner with students and faculty to solve behavior change challenges.
A History of Waste Reduction at Stanford
Stanford has a rich history of waste reduction efforts and continues to be a leader in zero waste. Explore where we have been and where we are headed.
Coming Soon!