Waste Mangagement

The amount of "stuff" used on a campus in any given day is phenomenal. According to researcher David Saphire, "Students at US colleges and universities generate on the order of 3.6 million tons of waste a year, or about 2 percent of the country's total waste stream." All of those items require both resources and energy when created (the GHG emissions of which are not tallied directly in your campus emissions inventory but are an important consideration nevertheless), and energy and resources when disposed of. According to the EPA, reducing the amount of waste we generate can cut greenhouse gas emissions in four major ways (courtesy EPA website):

• By reducing methane emissions from landfills because landfilled trash emits methane as it breaks down. So less trash means less methane.
• By reducing emissions from incinerators where nearly a quarter of our trash ends up, and emit GHGs during burning.
• By reducing emissions from energy consumption. When people reuse things or when products are made with less material, less energy is needed to extract, transport, and process raw materials and to manufacture products. What's more, production using recycled materials typically requires less energy than producing goods from virgin materials. The payoff? When energy demand decreases, fewer fossil fuels are burned and fewer greenhouse gases are emitted.
• Increase storage of carbon in trees. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in wood, in a process called "carbon sequestration." Prevention of paper waste allow more trees to remain standing in the forest.

There are many ways to reduce waste generation that should be considered when creating your plan. You'll want to look at:

• Solid waste: How to decrease the amount of trash you generate and deal with the trash you have.
• Recycling: Many, many services are available for recycling nearly any material you can think of.
• Purchasing: Choosing goods whose production, packaging and transport have a lower emissions potential is an important step.
• Building Design and Construction: Constructing and maintaining a building can be quite resource-intensive, yet there are ways to address this issue.
• Building Operation (See energy efficiency, below)
• Dining/Food service: Dining services can be a big factor in energy consumption and waste generation on campus; find ways to minimize the impact.
• Energy Efficiency: Wasting less energy has obvious implications for GHG reductions (and for the campus bottom-line!)