Zero Waste Goals and Strategies

Waste Generation is the creation of waste through the materials economy system: extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. A successful zero waste campaign addresses the following strategies related to waste generation:

• Policies and Practices: Establish a sustainable purchasing policy with environmentally and socially preferable guidelines (i.e. eliminating or reduces single-use disposables, mandates that teaching supplies (i.e. paper, scissors, pencils, etc.) come from recyclables sources). Then support implementation of sustainable purchasing policies with clear guidelines, annual training, and a process for tracking progress. 

• Culture of Reduce/Replace, Reuse, and Repair: Model, incentivize, and provide pathways for taking action before waste is generated; for example: refillable water bottle stations, scratch paper bins, donation drives, materials repurpose centers, repair centers, food sharing tables, etc.  

Sorting waste to be hauled and/or processed usually happens within these common categories: Landfill (municipal solid waste), Recycling, and Organics. Additional streams include e-waste and hazardous waste. Successful zero waste campaigns incorporate the following waste sorting strategies: 

• Infrastructure: Installing tri-bin stations (landfill, recycling, and compost) in eating and gathering areas with high traffic, and ensure proper signs are in place. Attend to necessary custodial infrastructure for managing three streams. 

• Training: Upon kick-off for waste initiative provide in-depth education and training for all stakeholders (students, faculty and staff, custodians, parent volunteers, etc.). Provide additional training at the start and midpoint of the school year on an annual basis - the key to this ongoing training is that it is short but frequent. Note that if students are standing at bins during lunch to support that this responsibility should be spread across grade levels, or if it is something that a green club or leadership teams is doing, then it should occur in one week intervals no more than four times per year to avoid burnout. 

• Tracking and Monitoring: Waste diversion should be monitored on a monthly or quarterly basis, and the school community should be made aware of progress.

• Commercial Hauling: It is mandated by law that all schools account for three waste streams - landfill, recycling, and organics. The majority of districts/schools will utilize commercial hauling services for these streams. It is recommended that schools align with residential hauling as best as possible. 

• On-Site Processing: Many schools are opting to process a small stream of organics through garden compost systems (i.e. tumble, turn, or worm-bin), and some are moving towards processing a large portion of organics on-site through in-vessel compost systems.