U College Cork to Go Plastic Free
In 2023, the university will eliminate all single-use plastic in its operation throughout campus dining, shops and vending machines.
PLAN Releases Top 10 2022 Zero Waste Institutions
The Post-Landfill Action Network (PLAN) recently released its list of Top 10 Zero Waste Campuses in the U.S., as assessed by PLAN’s Atlas Zero Waste Certification Program. Atlas is a holistic assessment framework for measuring waste reduction on college and university campuses.
Concordia U invests $2M in Local Circular Economy Fund
The university's foundation recently announced a $2 million contribution to a Québec-based, circular economy initiative, launched in March 2021 by Fondaction, in partnership with the City of Montreal and Recyc-Québec. The fund aims to accelerate ecological transition through the circular economy, notably by reducing the production of residual materials and supporting their recovery, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
U Sussex to Eliminate Single-Use Plastics
(U.K.) The university recently committed to eliminating avoidable single-use plastics from catering, stationery, laboratories, residence halls, offices and events by 2025. Where the use of plastics is unavoidable, the university has pledged to encourage the use of recycled plastics, and support manufacturers that make products from locally sourced waste plastics.
PLAN Announces Inaugural Top 10 Zero Waste Campuses
The Post-Landfill Action Network (PLAN) released recently the first annual list of Top 10 Zero Waste Campuses in the U.S., as assessed by PLAN’s Atlas Zero Waste Certification Program. Atlas is a holistic assessment framework for measuring waste reduction on college and university campuses.
NWF Campus Race to Zero Waste Announces Winners
Across more than 200 college campuses in 43 states, 2.4 million students and more than 500,000 faculty and staff participated in the 2021 Campus Race to Zero Waste competition. This year there were 18 winners across seven categories.
U Virginia to Reduce Single-Use Plastics
Following a state executive order requiring state agencies to stop buying, selling and distributing certain plastics, the university stopped purchasing single-use plastic bags, plastic cutlery, plastic food containers and plastic straws as of July 21. The university will also phase out plastic water bottles and plastic bag liners over the coming year to the extent possible.
Emory U Signs 'Break Free From Plastic' Pledge
The university recently committed to establish a task force on plastics reduction and create a year-by-year single-use plastics reduction strategy in order to eliminate the procurement of unnecessary single-use plastics by 2026.
U Wisconsin Platteville Commits to Zero Waste
The chancellor announced during the university's recent Earth Day celebration a pledge to become a zero waste campus by 2035, defined as diverting 90 percent of unwanted items from landfills through recycling, composting or reusing.
Ohio State U Tests Waste Diversion Strategies
A new partnership between the university and a local entity will divert waste from the landfill by using the campus as a living laboratory to test waste diversion projects ranging from education and behavioral change to new recycling technologies. The aim of the collaboration is to scale up waste reduction solutions across central Ohio.
U Edinburgh Pilots Plastic Reduction Lab Initiative
(U.K.) A research group replaced single-use plastics, such as tools used to collect and transfer samples, with reusable equipment incorporating wood or metal. Where alternatives were not available, the group decontaminated plastic equipment for reuse with chemical cleaning before a second level of decontamination under heat and pressure. In implementing these practices, they avoided using 3,000 plastic items of equipment during a four-week period and saved more than $500 (400 British pounds) over a three-month period.
HEC Paris Launches Waste Reduction Initiatives
(France) The university rolled out a new initiative aimed at supporting a zero waste campus. It is sorting non-biodegradable from biodegradable waste in a 200 square meter space known as the Greenzone.
