Macalester is in a place of privilege, being a wealthy private college in the wealthy Macalester-Groveland neighborhood, and while it often attempts to minimize its waste, it exists in the larger context of a capitalist society obsessed with commodification. Despite the efforts by Macalester and its students to diminish the waste we produce, there is a distinct disconnect between the student body and the waste it produces. This is amplified given that the large majority of Macalester students do not come from the Twin Cities, the surrounding area, or even Minnesota. Given Macalester’s positionality as a private, higher education institution in Minnesota and the Twin Cities area it is important to recognize the historical context of the land where we produce waste. In the 2017/2018 academic year alone Macalester produced over 100 tons of waste. The effects of this waste are not felt by the students of Macalester or the people living in the Macalester Groveland, rather they are borne by the communities that did not produce them. It is thus important for the institution to recognize and become more connected to the waste it produces. Along with this knowledge, it then bears the responsibility of diminishing the waste it produces through conscious effort.

Macalester had responded to its own waste production by creating its goal of Zero Waste by 2020 in 2009. “Zero Waste” can be a misleading term, however, as it doesn’t necessarily mean that Macalester won’t produce materials that don’t need to be processed or that it won’t produce any waste at all. “Zero Waste” means that an institution diverts all but 10 percent of its waste to recycling, compost, or other forms of reuse. Ten percent of waste going to landfill or incinerators is still acceptable under this goal.This campaign has led to tangible changes in Macalester’s waste disposal, leading to the Pig Food Organics Program, single stream recycling, and campus wide composting. By the numbers, Zero Waste has been successful in reducing waste between the 2007/2008 and the 2018/2019 academic years, increasing its rate of waste diversion from under 20% to around 80% in that 10 year span. Due in part to the Covid-19 pandemic, Macalester did not reach its goal to Zero Waste by 2020, and has since not published publically the data for its waste production. Even though it did not reach its goal in 2020, Macalester won the “Campus Race to Zero Waste” for small schools in 2021, likely due to circumstances surrounding Covid-19 including reduced on campus residency and a massive increase in composting waste created by single-use food containers. Despite being a national leader in waste diversion, Macalester since 2020 seems to have lost sight of its goal to diminish waste and has less of a connection to where its waste goes and how it affects other people. This case study is intended to help provide more information and context as to Macalester’s waste, where it goes, and who it affects in hopes of rekindling the imperative to decrease our own environmental impact and provide an example to other institutions. 

Despite its efforts, and likely due in large part to extenuating circumstances including the Covid-19 pandemic, Macalester did not reach its goal of Zero Waste in 2020. In 2020 diversion rates reached 78%, similar to the several years before it. Speaking with the Sustainability Office which serves as the central coordinator of sustainability-related projects at Macalester, there could be several reasons for the plateau that the institution has now seemed to reach. First, turnaround and time to fill positions in the Sustainability Office during this period may have led to decreased efficiency and overburdening of those working in the office, leading to less work and progress led by the office. Second, Macalester has gone through a change in leadership with new priorities of their own. Especially one that, given the circumstances of their inauguration around 2021, may have different views on how Macalester should deal with issues pertaining to race and inequality. Lastly, Macalester’s student body may have gone through a culture change over quarantine. Like the administration, the students of Macalester may not value waste diversion or view waste injustice in the same way as classes in the past. I argue that, rather, it is a disconnect between Macalester’s students and their waste and a lack of knowledge of their impacts that has pushed Macalester to plateau or even regress in its waste diversion goals.

Macalester waste contributes to environmental injustice in Minnesota. Following the institution’s un-diverted trash, Macalester’s waste is first taken to the Ramsey/Washington Recycling and Energy Center in Newport, MN. There it is processed to remove recyclable metals and create refuse-derived-fuel which can be burned to create energy. This fuel is then sent to incinerators at the Red Wing generating plant. There it is incinerated to produce energy for roughly 3,700 homes. Ash produced as a byproduct of incineration is then sent to the Red Wing Ash Landfill to be buried (Alison et al, 2021). While waste-to-energy is often touted as an efficient, green use of garbage, it has some clear downsides that could be the source of injustice. Incineration has been linked to heightened risk of cancer in individuals that live in close proximity to the site of waste-to-energy burning (Tait, 2020). Macalester, in being physically distanced from the incineration of its waste, does not feel the consequences. Those who do, including a juvenile detention center less than 2 miles away, bear the increased risk of cancer. Affecting not only those directly adjacent to incineration, burning trash releases emissions that may be comparable to landfill emissions and which may be more potent than methane. These emissions come in large part due to plastics and synthetic fibers that were not diverted from the trash stream. Incineration of waste, then, is a contributor to climate change, a leading cause of environmental and social injustice in the world (Schauffler, 2022). Injustice as such, borne by those who have not made the conscious decision to live with the risk, is in part caused by Macalester. As the student body, faculty, and administrators we have a responsibility to do what we can to diminish if not entirely eliminate our contribution to such injustice. 

Diversion of waste is not necessarily so cut-and-dry, however, with adverse consequences of even those processes that are deemed environmentally friendly. Industrial composting, as an example, has been linked to adverse health effects, often associated with organic dust, for those who work in facilities (Hambach, 2012). So, while composting may be preferable to incineration or landfill, it does not come without consequences. This pattern is reflected in all recycling as, at a minimum, energy is required to process the things we throw away. The end goal, instead of diversion, should be decreasing not just waste, but all of the products that we use then throw away. Zero Waste should be a step along the way, rather than the end goal.

Waste production and its deposition has been used as a vector of colonialism in the past, and must be monitored in the present and into the future. Macalester, in its position of privilege, is at a place where it can dictate to a degree how much waste it produces and where it goes. It has a choice, then, to maintain the pattern of injustice that is the result of waste or to change in an effort to reduce its footprint, serving as an example for other colleges and institutions. Regardless of the reason for the lack of drive at Macalester to reduce its waste, the imperative remains. Macalester needs to reinvigorate its student body in organizing towards zero waste. The student body also must express its desire to reach Zero Waste to the new administration, and Zero Waste must be incorporated into Macalester’s plan for the future. 

Zero Waste aligns directly with Macalester’s values as an institution. Where it may not seem to pertain to the topics of race and inequality that have encapsulated the minds of Minnesotans and Macalester students in recent years, it forms the basis for change that has been a fundamental form of injustice in the United States since before its inception. Macalester has emphasized the importance of environmentalism in many of its courses. Zero Waste presents a means by which to effectively reduce our impact on the environment and the impact that we, as a privileged private school, have on the communities that bear the burden of the trash we create. While we may have not reached it yet, Zero Waste is an attainable first step for our community and something that students can, and should rally around. 

Alison, et al. “Following the Journey of Our Garbage.” ArcGIS StoryMaps, Esri, 14 June 2021, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/a5e29d72873e43d1b110272483cc793d. 

Hambach R, Droste J, François G, Weyler J, Van Soom U, De Schryver A, Vanoeteren J, van Sprundel M. Work-related health symptoms among compost facility workers: a cross-sectional study. Arch Public Health. 2012 Jun 12;70(1):13. doi: 10.1186/0778-7367-70-13.

“Macalester Earns Top Ranking in Zero Waste Competition.” News -, 12 May 2021, https://www.macalester.edu/news/2021/05/macalester-earns-top-ranking-in-zero-waste-competition/. 

Schauffler, Marina. “Plastics Could Be Creating a Surge in Waste-to-Energy Plants' Emissions.” Energy News Network, 24 Feb. 2022, https://energynews.us/2022/02/25/combustion-of-plastics-could-be-creating-a-surge-in-waste-to-energy-plants-climate-emissions/. 

Tait PW, Brew J, Che A, Costanzo A, Danyluk A, Davis M, Khalaf A, McMahon K, Watson A, Rowcliff K, Bowles D. The health impacts of waste incineration: a systematic review. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2020 Feb;44(1):40-48. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12939.