August 27, 2024 By Kerstin Mayer No Comments
If you’ve been a recycling coordinator or in campus facilities management for a while, then you know waste management on your campus can be a difficult, yet rewarding, task. It’s something that requires daily attention – and the support of informative resources – to drive awareness and instill habits in your staff & students.
Standardize your program, add more recycling stations, reduce contamination—these are all the typical phrases you’ll hear in the recycling community about how to improve diversion rates and reduce costs on your college campus. While these are all important practices, there’s many moving parts to each that makes tackling them successfully a little more difficult—but that’s why they brought you on board!
The team at Busch Systems has put together the following essential list of 13 best resources to help you learn how to run a spectacular recycling & waste management program.
If you know of some more resources that’ll help your fellow recycling coordinators or campus facility managers, please comment below with your suggestions and we’ll add them to the list. And don’t forget to bookmark this page, so you can refer to it when you’ve got some more time to brush up on your recycling & waste management skills for your college/university.
Here’s Our List of 13 Resources for your College/University Recycling Program
1. Recycling and Beyond: A College Campus Primer [Study]
This online guide, co-authored by Recycling Coordinator Karyn Kaplan of the University of Oregon, provides an overview of strategies for implementation and program development of a college campus recycling program. It provides tools, resources and successes to inspire collegiate recyclers everywhere.
2. Tribal Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) Recycling Toolkit [Toolkit]
This toolkit focuses on using the community-based social marketing (CBSM) process to promote recycling behavior, based on a CBSM Case Study at the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC).
The toolkit includes example steps of how FDLTCC followed the CBSM process. It also includes a CBSM Strategy Tools Checklist specifically designed to suggest tactics to address barriers to recycling behavior. These toolkit components can be followed step-by-step and tailored towards your own CBSM efforts to promote recycling behaviors. The toolkit components can also be easily adapted to promote any other kinds of positive behaviors!
3. EPA Organics Recovery Toolkit [Toolkit]
EPA recognizes this critical need and views this as a timely opportunity to develop an organics recovery toolkit for colleges and universities. To aid in its development, MMS engaged the University of Louisville’s Center for Environmental Policy and Management (CEPM), part of the Environmental Finance Center Network.
4. Zero Waste Campus Toolkit [Toolkit]
Created by the University of Oregon Zero Waste Program in partnership with CURC, this toolkit contains resources regarding the concept of Zero Waste, Zero Waste management practices and a campus pledge and model policy. This toolkit is also available in a print-friendly version.
5. Comparative Analysis of Recycling Programs: A Case Study of
Three Universities [Case Study]
The goal of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of three university recycling programs. This study looked at several aspects of the programs that included the diversion rates, per capita ratios of materials recycled and disposed, and the average net costs of waste disposal and waste diversion. The universities included in this study were the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Oregon.
6. Virginia Tech “Greening Your Game Day” Recycling Guide [eBook]
This best practice guide is a resource for colleges and universities to implement or improve collegiate game day recycling and sustainability efforts. The guide was produced by a student research team coordinated by the Virginia Tech Office of Energy & Sustainability. It provides an overview of strategies for the implementation and development of a collegiate game day operation. It includes case studies of participants’ programs and a list of best practices for all areas of game day operations to implement or improve a sustainable materials management program. The guide is published in cooperation with the US EPA’s Game Day Challenge, CURC, Keep America Beautiful and Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
7. Creating and Environmental Coordinator Position Part I: A Portfolio of Case Studies [eBook]
The goal of this project is to assist those interested in starting new Environmental
Coordinator (EC) positions on their campuses. Included are case studies from colleges and
universities around the country that have established EC positions.
8. “Garbage on the Green”- A Waste Audit Event at the University of North Florida [Study]
This study authored by Stacy E. Wheeler and conducted by University of North Florida provides great walkthrough of the waste assessment process at a college/university. The purpose of the study was to identify and quantify the types and sources of materials in UNF’s solid waste stream. Findings from the study were used to generate new strategies for improving campus waste management and recycling programs. The study was funded by the Environmental Center and supported by the university administration, the city of Jacksonville, and a diverse group of regional public and private organizations.
9. Student Evaluations of Recyclable Materials Collections in University-Owned Residence Halls at The Ohio State University [Study]
This is a great resource for preparation of your own study at your college/university campus. This undergraduate honors project examined recycling knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and behaviors of Ohio State University students living in university residence halls.
10. Zero Waste Campus Project [Study]
If you’re looking for a dense read, this is it! Students at the University of British Columbia walkthrough an incredibly in-depth assessment of their campus waste management program. This research is interested in the infrastructure (i.e. locations of recycling stations) of waste sorting in the University of British Columbia (UBC) Vancouver campus, and how it may affect the rates of waste diversion and recycling. Currently, UBC has 117 traditional garbage bins that do not have any recycling option.
11. College and University Recycling Coalition [Webinar Archive]
This resource includes over 100 case study presentations on a wide range of campus recycling/zero waste topics. While you may have to register for a free membership to access, all the webinars are free to access.
12. College and University Recycling Coalition [Survey Archive]
Another CURC resource – this archive of surveys is great for seeing results for several surveys documenting trends and practices related to collection infrastructure and operations on campuses. This real-world feedback can help inform your sustainability team as you design your own recycling program.
13. Zero Waste Campus Council – California Recourse Recovery Association [Network]
This is an informal network of university, corporate and other institutional recycling and zero waste managers. They host a monthly, hour-long drop-in “Meet up, Waste Down” networking events for professionals to discuss /share knowledge on waste-related topics. The meeting sometimes involves an informal case study presentation followed by breakout discussions on different topics. The meet ups are zoom-based and free for anyone to join!
And there you have it! Plenty of resources to get your journey to sustainable waste management started. We’ll continue to update this page as we see more great information come down the pipe. And again, if you think we’ve missed some more resources, feel free to comment below.
Suggested Recycling Containers for your College/University campus program
From stadiums to dorm rooms, cafeterias to classrooms, Busch Systems has been designing campus recycling and trash bins for Colleges and Universities for almost 40 years. Some of the recommended containers for College and University campuses include:
Recycling & Waste Basket Series
Waste Watcher containers are best sellers for College and University Campuses!
