CU-Boulder's Zero Waste Team is using creative solutions to decrease campus waste going to landfills, while increasing recycling and composting and reducing paper use.
“It is easy to be passionate about the environment at CU and in Boulder,” said Curt Huetson, director of facilities planning, operations and project management for Housing & Dining Services. “But, most folks these days have a real sense that we can all do our part for a sustainable future.”
Huetson has been chairing the Zero Waste Team at CU-Boulder since 2008, almost a year after then-Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., signed the . The order called for a 20 percent reduction in energy use, 20 percent reduction in paper use and a 10 percent reduction in water consumption among other directives.
As a state organization, CU-Boulder was tasked with creating a sustainability management system to track and report its “greening” performance. The Zero Waste Team is one of the groups that has been creating measures to track campus sustainability efforts since 2008.
The Zero Waste Team has three main goals: Decrease waste to the landfill, increase waste diversion to recycling and composting and decrease paper use for campus.ĚýHuetson meets monthly with 12 other members of the team from various departments across campus, including Facilities Management, OIT, Environmental Health & Safety, CU Recycling and the Integrated Physiology department (see team members below). Several innovative, creative and even simple yet impactful solutions have resulted from the team’s efforts.
One of the biggest efforts by the Zero Waste Team is reducing campus paper use. In the last four years, campus has seen a 33 percent reduction in print and copy paper. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average American generates four-and-a-half pounds of waste per day.ĚýCU-Boulder averages a little more than a half a pound per-day-per-person.
“The Zero Waste Team, with support of many on campus, has made great progress in reducing our paper use, including moving forms and processes to paperless equivalents,"ĚýHuetsonĚýsaid.
Suzanne Nelson, a biology and nutrition instructor and Zero Waste Team member, has worked for more than three years to transform her exams for her more than 400 student Nutrition, Health and Performance class from paper to online. Since starting the practice, Nelson has saved 90,000 pieces of paper, or nearly 14 trees. Her efforts have inspired others on campus to switch to online exams.Ěý
Many of the team’s solutions are relatively simple and aim to piggyback off existing systems. For example, the team works hard to prevent waste from even making its way to campus by seeking alternatives from suppliers with reduced packaging or asking them to take back their packaging after items are delivered.
In fiscal year 2015, the team managed to recycle 2,635 pounds of dry plastic film – think shrink wrap, for instance – with little additional labor from staff.
Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar, one of the staff members on the team and program manager for CU Green Labs Program, has also instituted creative ways to divert lab materials from landfills. In the last year, efforts to recycle lab metal containers diverted 2,500 pounds of metal from the landfill. Among the types of recycled lab containers are five-gallon solvent drums, aluminum ether bottles and tin secondary shipping containers.
Looking ahead, the team is working on a system that would comingle animal bedding waste with food waste from campus that are already being sent to a composting facility.
Every year, campus produces almost 52 tons of animal bedding waste, such as wood chips and paper, that can be better diverted to a compost facility and converted into a useable product like fertilizer.
And the team’s work doesn’t stop there. One of their biggest priorities is increasing education to campus about diversion opportunities. While construction continues on the new dining center at Williams Village, the team has been piloting a signage program to raise awareness about recycling at receptacles around the temporary dining facility, the Village Express. The team is also leveraging CU-Boulder's unique approach to one-to-one resident advisor (RA) and student meetings to add information on Green Room Certification. Discussions include best practices for energy and water efficiency, recycling and local shopping.
Sustainability Coordinator for Residence Life Rayna Oliker says students are self-reporting behavior change in several different areas as a result of the conversations they have with their RAs.
“Our team is motivated by sharing cross-organizational support between the various departments they represent and we definitely feel a sense of accomplishment from efforts that result in progress on campus,” said Huetson. “The exchange of ideas between members is enthusiastic, and each member is willing to go out of their way to support, or remove obstacles, for other team members.”
Ěý“We would eventually love to see nothing from campus going to the landfill.”
To learn more about the Zero Waste team, please contact Curt Huetson at Curt.Huetson@colorado.edu.
Zero Waste Team:
- Curt Huetson, director, Facilities Planning and Operations Housing & Dining Services
- Amin Gheysar, assistant director, facilities business operations, Housing & Dining Services
- Mark Lapham, associate director and compliance manager, Environmental Health & Safety
- Edward Von Bleichert, environmental operations manager, Facilities Operations
- Jack DeBell, development director, CU Recycling
- Jeff Darling, senior purchasing agent/PSC, Facilities Management
- Jack Brubaker, director, distribution center, Facilities Management
- Mark McDermott, assistant director, maintenance and ground operations, Housing & Dining Services
- David Danielson, AVC, Facilities Management
- Jon Giltner, director of enterprise services, OIT
- Rayna Oliker, sustainability coordinator, Residence Life, Housing & Dining Services
- Suzanne Nelson, biology and nutrition instructor, Integrated Physiology
- Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar, CU Green Labs program manager, Facilities Management and the E-Center
