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Net Zero as Emissions Reduction at Wisconsin School District

Photo by fizkes for Adobe Stock Images (Education license, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign).

Project Title: Net Zero as Emissions Reduction at Wisconsin School District                                                                                                                                       

Sector: K-12 School District, K-12 Schools

Location: Wisconsin

Services: Fostering Sustainable Behavior, Climate Resiliency, Stakeholder Engagement, Sustainability Planning, Waste Reduction/Management

Background: The ISTC Zero Waste team was made aware of the opportunity to assist with this project due to past partnership with McKinstry. McKinstry’s mission is to “make the built environment healthier, more efficient and safer through our engineering expertise, construction excellence and innovative facility operations.” The ISTC Zero Waste team was brought on as a consultant for the solid waste, recycling, and compost portion of a larger emissions reduction plan.

Approach: ISTC compiled available information on waste hauling data including dumpster or bin sizes and pickup frequency at 50+ district buildings.

ISTC contacted staff in grounds, cafeteria, waste management, and other high-generation areas to understand current practices and diversion efforts across the district. ISTC also spoke to local government, business, and nonprofit agencies to gain greater understanding of the local area’s waste resources and assess potential partnership opportunities. Through these conversations, ISTC developed strategies and recommendations that complemented and built on existing waste reduction and management work, as well as first steps toward unaddressed “low-hanging fruit” solutions.

Finally, ISTC compiled a list of case studies, best practices, peer institutions, and assistance organizations to provide inspiration and aid for implementing waste reduction strategies. These were documented in a report and submitted to both the district and McKinstry.

Hauling data, stakeholder feedback, and additional resources were presented at an educational workshop. ISTC staff presented in person and answered questions from workshop attendees.

Results: Information, recommendations, and resources compiled and shared by ISTC can be used by the school district to address waste reduction, data collection, and diversion. Attendees of ISTC’s presentation will be able to advocate for waste reduction and management as important pieces of a carbon neutrality plan.

Other Projects with this Client (McKinstry): https://tap.istc.illinois.edu/category/mckinstry/

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Florida School District Solid Waste Analysis and Reduction Planning

Photo by WavebreakMediaMicro for Adobe Stock Images (Education license, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Project Title:  Florida School District Solid Waste Analysis and Reduction Planning

Sector: K-12 School District, K-12 Schools

Location: Florida

Services: Fostering Sustainable Behavior, Stakeholder Engagement, Sustainability Planning, Waste Reduction/Management

Background: The ISTC Zero Waste team was made aware of the opportunity to assist with this project due to past partnership with McKinstry. McKinstry’s mission is to “make the built environment healthier, more efficient and safer through our engineering expertise, construction excellence, and innovative facility operations.” The goal for this specific project was to develop carbon reduction goals with a focus on six key areas: energy efficiency, infrastructure upgrades, on- & off-site renewables, energy purchasing, fleet operations, and solid waste. The ISTC Zero Waste team was brought on to assist with the solid waste and recycling portion of this plan which analyzed existing data and practices, engaged stakeholders, and provided recommendations on ways to reduce waste across the district.

Approach: The tasks set out for the ISTC team involved evaluating existing data streams, engaging with key stakeholders across the district, conducting an educational session on waste reduction and diversion, developing strategies and recommendations to reduce waste generation and the associated Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions, and developing the solid waste section of the final plan. Evaluating existing data involved obtaining bills and records from waste and recycling disposal efforts and analyzing how those values differed across types of district buildings as well as the associated greenhouse gas emissions. ISTC also analyzed other waste streams including tires, construction and demolition waste, scrap metal, and landscape waste. As part of the engagement process, working groups from different priority areas were engaged to discern current conditions and existing practices within the district. Meetings were held with the custodial team, grant writing team, Green Team leaders, purchasing team, student nutrition services, as well as key stakeholders from the county recycling team. These meetings helped ISTC uncover what programs existed, what was going well, where gaps existed, and what opportunities there were across the district for improvement. The education session targeted Green Team members across the school district and focused on why waste reduction is important and relevant to the school district. This presentation also included ideas for engaging with students on the topic of waste, such as conducting waste bin audits in their classrooms. The ISTC team summarized their findings and presented recommendations for waste diversion and reduction in the final plan.

Results: The result of this project was the final carbon reduction plan of which ISTC contributed to the Solid Waste section. Recommendations were presented as “good,” “better,” or “best” which reflected cost, difficulty, and overall impact to allow the district to choose an approach in line with their financial and labor capabilities.  This process not only collected valuable information which aided in creating a tailored pathway to reduction but also fostered connections and collaboration within the district by allowing the spread of knowledge about existing projects, partnerships, and ideas.

Other Projects with this Client (McKinstry): https://tap.istc.illinois.edu/category/mckinstry/

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Loyola University Chicago: Solid Waste Characterization and Opportunity Assessment

Image of people in protective clothing standing around a table hand-sorting waste that is spread on the table.
Photo of ISTC staff and Loyola student and staff volunteers during the waste audit.

Project Title: Loyola University Chicago: Solid Waste Characterization and Opportunity Assessment

Sectors: Higher Education, Caterers, Food Service, Retail

Location: Chicago, IL

Services: Implementation Assistance, Stakeholder Engagement, Fostering Sustainable Behavior, Waste Characterization/Reduction/Management

Background: Loyola University Chicago spans multiple campuses and hundreds of buildings in the Chicagoland area. As part of the university’s planning process towards a zero waste future, Loyola Sustainability Manager Megan Conway reached out to ISTC to plan a waste characterization study or waste audit. The data and recommendations from this study will inform Loyola’s work toward a zero-waste campus.

Approach: ISTC utilizes an “Activity Zone” approach for audits to more accurately analyze data and provide tailored solutions to each zone. At Loyola, the Activity Zones were as follows:

  • Academic: Mundelein Center, Phillip H. Corboy Law Center, Center for Translational Research & Education, Quinlan and Flanner halls
  • Multi-Use: Damen Student Center, Information Commons & Cudahy Library
  • Student Living: Fordham Hall, Mertz Hall, and de Nobili hall
  • On-The-Go: Exterior bins on the Lake Shore Campus

The ISTC team conducted walkthroughs of the planned buildings in March and the audit on April 15-19, 2024. During the week of hand-sorting and weighing trash and recycling streams from the selected buildings, the ISTC team and Loyola volunteers compiled data on waste stream composition for a total of nine spaces within four activity zones and two campuses of the Loyola University system. As per the ASTM D5231 standard for processing solid waste, 200-pound samples were targeted as the minimum representative sample weights for both landfill-bound trash and single-stream recycling.

ISTC also assessed contamination levels in 132.3 pounds of compost-bound material collected at the dining facility located in de Nobili Hall.

Over several months, the ISTC team analyzed the audit data, reviewed building walkthrough notes, and compiled a list of recommendations under the following categories. The recommendations were then classified by Activity Zone (Campus-Wide, Academic, Multi-Use, Student Living, and/or On the Go), by Cost Types (Labor, Materials, and/or Services), and by Impact (Low, Medium, or High).

  • Infrastructure & Signage: These recommendations encourage clear, standardized, and co-located waste infrastructure, from bin and bag coloring to signage.
  • Organics: These recommendations cover large- and small-scale management of organic waste, particularly food waste and compostable consumer products.
  • Purchasing: These recommendations address upstream solutions to reduce waste production in labs, food service, printing and more.
  • Research & Goal Setting: These recommendations suggest areas for further investigation, such as waste audits that cover different areas and materials not captured in the current study.
  • Programming: These recommendations engage the community with regular events and activities such as specialty recycling drop-off points, sharing systems, and reusables.
  • Education and Outreach: These recommendations provide topics and methods for teaching the campus community about waste and waste management.

Results : The final report was presented to Loyola staff in early Summer 2024. Highlights included pie charts of each Activity Zone’s trash and recycling stream, an analysis of common items and contaminants, a flowchart of the waste stream at Loyola, and an overview of current waste infrastructure and practices. The report also contained a summary of the audit procedure, data analysis by building, and a table of recommendations.

Loyola’s next steps are putting together a broader Zero Waste Plan informed by this audit data as well as feedback from stakeholders across campus.

The ISTC team is thankful for all the student and faculty volunteers who helped sort, to the grounds team for their hard work hauling waste, and to the workers and managers of Campus Operations and Facilities for their cooperation and insight on waste practices.

Other projects with this client: None at this time.

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Illinois State University: Solid Waste Characterization and Opportunity Assessment of the Bone Student Center

Photo of ISTC staff and ISU volunteers during the waste audit at Bone Student Center.
Photo of ISTC staff and ISU volunteers during the waste audit at Bone Student Center.

Project Title: Illinois State University: Solid Waste Characterization and Opportunity Assessment of the Bone Student Center

Sectors: Higher Education, Caterers, Food Service, Retail

Location: Normal, IL

Services: Implementation Assistance, Stakeholder Engagement, Fostering Sustainable Behavior, Waste Characterization/Reduction/Management

Background: In June 2022, Illinois State University (ISU) completed the University’s first-ever Sustainability Strategic Plan. Among the many topics covered in the plan, “Materials Management and Waste Reduction” was a key focus. Soon after the release of the report, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) Technical Assistance Program (TAP) reached out to the ISU Director of Sustainability, Elisabeth Reed, to discuss opportunities for support and collaboration. After several discussions, it was decided that ISTC would conduct a waste characterization study (waste audit) to collect, sort, and weigh waste and recycling samples and identify opportunities for waste reduction and diversion. The Bone Student Center’s variety of uses and activities made it a good representation of the types of waste generated across the ISU campus.

Approach: Beginning in June 2023, ISTC began meeting with the ISU team to better understand the various areas and activities of Bone Student Center along with discussing the logistics of collecting and sorting waste and recycling samples. It was determined that ISTC, along with ISU volunteers, would collect waste and recycling samples from three “activity zones” of the Bone Student Center:

  1. Catering – This included one kitchen and one dishwashing room used by both catering staff and retail outlets.
  2. Retail – This encompassed food service locations as well as some indoor and outdoor seating locations used by customers.
  3. Concourse & Office – This encompassed general hallways, lounge and study spaces, event halls, one classroom, and office spaces.

The physical collection, sorting, and weighing of material took place on September 26-27th, 2023 in the Visitor parking lot of the Bone Student Center on the ISU campus. As per the ASTM D5231 standard for processing solid waste, we aim for 200-pound samples of both landfill-bound trash and single-stream recycling.

The TAP team also conducted a walkthrough of the Bone Student Center, taking pictures, observing current waste management practices, and conducting informal stakeholder engagement in each of the three activity zones.

The resulting report, presented to ISU staff in December 2023, describes and visualizes our findings from this data. An Opportunity Assessment included within that report details strategies and recommendations to reduce overall waste generation and divert additional materials from the landfill in each of the three activity zones, categorized as:

  • Education (e.g., Develop standardized educational signage for all single-stream recycling bins.)
  • Collection Container Improvement (e.g., Ensure trash and recycling bins are co-located to make recycling more convenient for building occupants.)
  • Programs & Procedures (e.g., Target single-use plastics or plastics not accepted in single-stream recycling bins.)

Results: Through this waste characterization study, the TAP team collected data that will inform ISU’s commitment to their Sustainable Strategic Directions of Food and Events as well as Materials Management and Waste Reduction.

“The waste characterization study conducted by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center provided valuable data that will guide us towards more sustainable practices within our student center and throughout our campus. The knowledge and expertise of the ISTC team elevated our understanding of various waste streams and provided realistic solutions towards diversion and waste reduction.”    — Elisabeth Reed, ISU Director of Sustainability

Other projects with this client: None at this time.