ASU’s Zero Waste by 2015 initiative was launched on April 1 of this year, though it has been in the works for several years. One of many efforts centered around sustainability on campus, the Zero Waste program has been publicized fairly well and many of its programs have already been implemented. For instance, there are recycling bins on every corner; composting bins have been installed at Hassayampa and Barrett, the Honors College’s dining halls; cardboard collecting services have been implemented in Tempe and Polytechnic; hand dryers have been installed in most restrooms at all four campuses; and even more obscure efforts, such as athletic shoe collection, have been enacted in order to reduce solid waste diversion by 90 percent.
ASU’s effort to become a more sustainable institution should not be a surprise given the presence of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and the School of Sustainability, one of the best sustainability programs in the world — and similar enterprises should be setting comparable goals. However, while reducing ASU’s waste is an extremely important and noble goal given its immense ecological footprint (17.72 million gross square feet), the Zero Waste by 2015 initiative is ultimately incomplete.
Earlier this year, ASU published a seemingly comprehensive Zero Waste roadmap that outlines the initiative’s baseline data, trajectories and goals. Within this document, it is revealed that waste characterization studies, meant to reveal the current state of ASU’s waste diversion, were conducted from Feb. 12-14, 2012. These studies include only 30 total samples, each weighing 200-300 pounds.
While the roadmap claims that these samples were taken from representative receptacles, it does not seem likely that a two-day period could be completely illustrative of the entire University’s yearly waste production. Within the roadmap document, there is also a table containing information about ASU’s waste that dates from 2007-12, but the methods by which this data was collected are undisclosed. It is unclear whether this information is any more representative than that of the 2012 study.
More comprehensive studies should have been conducted because ultimately, it is impossible to create and implement mitigation strategies when the current state of the problem has not been properly analyzed. Perhaps this lack of information has led to additional obstacles facing the Zero Waste initiative.
Additionally, a large portion of the programs that are outlined in the Zero Waste roadmap are phrased as either being proposed or being in the piloting stage; this means that a lot of the programs that may ultimately allow the University to reach its zero waste goal have not been implemented enterprise-wide. In particular, most of the proposed composting programs are currently in the piloting stage — and given the fact that nearly 65 percent of ASU’s solid waste is compostable (paper and organics), the University should probably speed up its composting efforts.
The aforementioned roadmap was published earlier this year, and therefore, it is likely that more of the piloted, waste diversion programs have been implemented at ASU. Important to note, though, is the fact that the program’s failures are not the sole fault of its directors — in order for the initiative to be successful, all parties involved must be on board, especially considering ASU’s 100+ departments and partner organizations that are responsible for participating in new programs and projects. But unfortunately, 2014 is coming to a rapid conclusion, and the Zero Waste policy has not been completely adopted at ASU.
As this semester comes to a close, let’s hope that more of Zero Waste’s projects are implemented enterprise-wide so that ASU can move a little closer toward diverting 90 percent of its solid waste away from local dumps and toward sustainable alternatives.
Reach the columnist at kpolickk@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @kaelynpk
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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