Zero waste 101

What does zero waste look like? How does it work at Ohio University?

“Zero waste is when you recover 90 percent or more of materials and divert them from the landfill,” said Andrew Ladd, refuse and recycling manager at OHIO’s Campus Recycling. “The term ‘zero waste’ is a word that gives energy and lift to the goal of taking better care of the earth, a word that creates that cultural shift.”

This means OHIO collects recyclable material one would expect from a higher education institution: paper, cardboard, cans, and certain plastics. But, Ladd said, zero waste also means Baker University Center’s catering unit is committed to using only washable or compostable serving ware for events. It means Campus Recycling offers pickup services at individual offices. It means promoting other recycling centers in Athens and the region, such as the Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers and a Material Recovery Facility or MRF in The Plains.

And zero waste means Ladd’s unit is committed to collecting all recyclable and unwanted materials from an office purge when units and departments move to different buildings.

Unwanted materials? Those that don’t fit in the usual recycle bin. They include electronic waste, or “e-waste,” at more than 30 locations across the Athens Campus.

OHIO sends unwanted materials “downstream,” Ladd said, to partnering companies “that take the items, reduce them, and sell them to manufacturers needing that resource,” he continued. “OHIO garners a small rebate for those items.”

Compact discs, for example. OHIO faculty, staff, and students deposit them into an e-waste container for Campus Recycling to aggregate at its warehouse at The Ridges. About twice a month, the CDs travel to Columbus to Accurate IT Services, an e-waste recycling company. Here is more information on how CDs are recycled.

Why does OHIO go to these lengths to divert CDs, among other things, from landfills? The effort is part of the 2011 OHIO sustainability plan, which includes several benchmarks. “Benchmark number seven is to achieve an 80 percent recycle rate by 2016,” Ladd said. How is the recycling rate measured? “By a combination of actual weights of compost, mix stream, and best guesses,” he said. This benchmark figure also includes scrap metal, carpet, construction waste, e-waste, and the like.

How does Ladd think OHIO can attain the 80 percent recycle rate and meet the benchmark? Starting with the fiscal year 2015 rates, if there was an increase of one pound of recycling per person at OHIO per week, that would equal 80 percent. “I genuinely believe it is achievable in 2016,” Ladd said.

Kelee Riesbeck, BSJ ’91, assistant director, Advancement Communication and Marketing, and managing editor of ohiowomen, an imprint of Ohio Today, and of ohiotoday.org.