At Stanford, we’re wise about waste. Our vision is to establish a model wasteless community that takes a scalable, holistic, systems approach to advance zero waste culture and waste justice.
Stanford has a long history of waste reduction and has consistently diverted over 60% of waste from the landfill over the past two decades.
A wasteless community is one where overall waste is minimal, single-use items are the exception, reuse is the norm, and people are educated and empowered to easily recycle and compost the rest.
A wasteless community can be achieved when our systems and our culture work together to stop waste from the start, and ensure the highest and best use of materials that are discarded, but still have value.
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.
Digging into the material we send to landfill is key to understanding the barriers and opportunities in moving towards a wasteless community and circular economy.
Stanford conducts ongoing waste audits to assess what is ending up in the landfill waste stream by amount, location, material type, product, and brand. The university also conducts regular inspections to ensure the waste infrastructure is maintained and to spot-check for proper sorting.
This data helps us optimize our operations, tailor our resources, and inform waste reduction strategies to meet the university’s zero waste goal.
Just as water and energy flow through pipes and transmission lines, materials flow through a building through a system of standardized waste infrastructure. Stanford’s waste standards are designed to provide convenient access to recycling and composting and to encourage waste reduction and proper waste sorting.
Stanford leverages cutting-edge technology to track our waste from its source within buildings to its destination at the recycling facility. By using an AI-driven mobile app to spot-check proper sorting and camera-equipped trucks to monitor dumpster capacities, the university optimizes operations and streamlines sustainability. And by partnering with facilities that use robots and AI to sort recyclables, Stanford can ensure the highest and best use of materials.
Creating a campus culture of waste reduction is essential to achieving our zero waste goal. By incorporating social science principles into everyday programming – from signage to social media – Stanford promotes waste reduction and proper sorting as the norm.
By connecting operations and academics, we leverage the university as a living lab for sustainability to test behavior change interventions that can be scaled across campus and beyond.
Stanford is currently updating its Climate Action Plan, which will include strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through waste reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, and sustainable procurement.
Stanford has a rich history of waste reduction efforts and continues to be a leader in zero waste. Explore where we’ve been and where we’re headed.
When Stanford was founded, the United States had begun understanding the need for waste management. As populations grew, waste accumulated, and a new field of waste management was created. During this time, all waste generated at Stanford was either burned in local incinerators or buried in dumpsites.
In 1939, Stanford took a significant step towards environmental stewardship by engaging its first waste management service– a small, local family business that went on to service the university for decades. Very little waste was being generated compared to the present day, and reuse was common practice.
Post World War II, new materials were being created and marketed to the public at an unprecedented rate. With consumerism on the rise, the world saw the birth of single-use packaging and a sharp increase in waste generation. In the 1950s, the university began sending its waste to the Palo Alto landfill, which was created in 1954 with more sophisticated and sanitary operations.
The birth of the environmental movement in the 1970s spread awareness of the detrimental effects of waste on our planet and people. In 1976, a senior undergraduate student pitched the idea of creating a recycling program at Stanford to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill. The original program, a Recycling Drop-Off Center, collected paper, bottles, and cans and was operated by the Associated Students of Stanford University.
In 1985, cardboard and scrap metal were added to the recycling program, and management was transferred to the university’s waste hauler. In total, six new waste reduction programs were created, including Stanford’s first yard waste composting program.
Stanford’s recycling program spread across campus with the addition of public recycling bins in 1995 and event recycling bins in 2000. The campus also added curbside collection for residents in 1989. As a result, Stanford’s diversion rate jumped from 39% in 1998 to 50% in 2000.
In 2003, Stanford began composting food waste after a successful pilot program in Wilbur Dining Hall. Composting quickly spread across all of the dining halls, and in 2004, Stanford reached a 60% diversion rate for the first time.
Over the 2000s, Stanford expanded its recycling and composting programs across campus to increase diversion, obtaining numerous awards for its efforts. As the campus population increased, Stanford’s diversion rate stabilized at 60-67%. In 2018, Stanford set an ambitious goal to reach zero waste by 2030. This means reducing or diverting from landfill over 90% of waste generated at Stanford.
After years of consistent waste diversion rates, a comprehensive waste characterization study was conducted in 2019 to assess the types and quantities of material going to landfill. Based on this data, Stanford developed a Zero Waste Plan detailing actions to reduce waste and increase recycling and composting. In 2024, the waste system was upgraded to provide everyone on campus access to recycling and composting.
The university continues to work towards establishing a model wasteless community that advances zero waste culture and waste justice. To lay the groundwork for Stanford’s next phase of zero waste leadership, the university will be updating its Zero Waste Action Plan beginning in 2025.
Shape the strategies Stanford will prioritize to achieve a wasteless community by getting involved with the zero waste action plan.
Stanford has set a new benchmark for sustainability at live events through its first major concert hosted by Stanford Athletics and Stanford Live. Sustainable Stanford hosted a fireside chat with sustainability leadership from Live Nation and Warner Music Group in tandem with this milestone.
From reducing embodied carbon in construction to piloting organic landscape management, the annual Student Sustainability Symposium highlighted how student-led innovation is driving sustainability at Stanford.
Laura Segura Gonzalez, a second-year design student, is leading jean upcycling workshops to combat fast fashion waste, empowering students to transform old jeans into something new.
Events like Big Swap, a swap event run by-and-for students, aim to use Stanford resources to codify cultural norms of sharing and increase the efficacy of reuse initiatives.