Target IX: Waste

2025 update

With our current five-year Sustainability Action Plan concluding in 2024-2025, we are set to begin the next phase of our sustainability efforts. The University will develop a new plan that will guide us towards our 2050 sustainability objectives. This plan will address the needs of our tri-campus community and involve a range of partners in its creation.

Stay informed about progress, learn about the planning process, and discover ways to get involved on the Sustainability Action Plan update page.

Updating the plan

plant sprouts growing in symmetry

10% LESS SOLID WASTE BY 2025

Everything we throw away is something that we don’t need. That may seem self-evident, but combined with life-cycle thinking it means an opportunity to reduce manufacturing emissions, energy consumption, transportation, and even raw materials extraction associated with whatever object we didn’t need. “Reduce, reuse, recycle” remains a powerful hierarchy of solid waste management, but there are even more details of product and materials management, economics, and urban ecology that can receive both our research attention and our operational attention.

See all target actions

Status updates

2020-2025 wrap-up report

Progress:

Converted eight Seattle academic buildings to single-stream recycling with centralized compost collection and improved signage.
Piloted a reusable cup program at Alaska Airlines Arena.
Piloted donation drives to promote reuse of furniture and other items during residence hall move-outs.
Released UW’s first Zero Waste Assessment Report, establishing a baseline for waste generation and diversion.
Launched contamination-prevention outreach campaigns in residence halls to improve recycling and compost quality.
UW Bothell installed smart sensors to optimize waste collection routes.
Tacoma explored waste reduction strategies through student-led living lab projects.

By-the-Numbers:

In 2022, solid waste contributed 0.6% of UW’s total greenhouse gas emissions, a small but highly visible component of the footprint.
The “Give & Go” move-out pilot at Bothell diverted 800+ pounds of material in its first year.
Seattle campus 2023 Data:
- 50.2% diversion rate (2,501 tons recycled, 1,896 tons composted, 1,444 tons reused).
- 5,783 metric tons sent to landfill or incineration.
- About 348 pounds of waste per person (students + employees).

Status: Not achieved. UW diverted over 50% of its waste in 2023, surpassing national averages and reflecting strong recycling, composting, and reuse programs. However, total non-hazardous waste generation reached 11,624 metric tons, showing no decline from the 2019 baseline. Landfill and incineration tonnage also rose about 20%, against a goal of a 10% reduction by 2025. These results highlight the need to shift from managing waste after it is created to reduce waste at the source, which will be a priority in the next Sustainability Action Plan.

Fiscal year 2024 progress

FY2024 progress

Target actions for FY24

Divert compostable waste from recycling and landfill
Reduce single-use disposable items

Divert compostable waste from recycling and landfill
In Fiscal Year 2024, UW Recycling updated its waste infrastructure to support single-stream recycling in eight buildings across the Seattle campus. This included strategic placement of compost bins and improved signage in common areas where food is regularly consumed or prepared.

To address the high contamination rates occurring in residence halls, UW Recycling and Housing & Food Services distributed "Recycle Right" door hangers with waste sorting guidance to every residence hall, apartment, and family housing unit at the beginning of the 2024 Fall quarter. Additionally, waste sorting training was provided to Resident Advisors (RAs) to help them share this information with residents on their floors. UW Recycling also sent notifications to custodial, dining and community managers, providing information and a new social media toolkit to address recycling contamination.

UW Recycling nearly doubled its number of outreach events on the Seattle campus in fiscal year 2024, increasing from 51 to 99. More than 5,000 students, staff, faculty, and community members were engaged and educated over the year at events and tours such as:

Recology Recycling Materials Recover Tour
Cedar Grove’s Composting Facilities Tour
Residence Hall Trash Sort
Tailgate recycling
Dining Hall “Get Caught Green Handed” initiative
Orientation leader training
Welcome Day in-person sessions with new UW employees

Additionally, nearly 400 staff and faculty completed the Intro to Recycling training course, which is now required for all Facilities staff and Housing and Food Services staff. Roughly 600 students also completed the online Waste 101 course.

Over the past year, UW Medicine has strengthened its commitment to sustainability by establishing a new Sustainability Committee and creating a dedicated website. Additionally, funding was approved for FY25 to hire two new Sustainability Managers - one for UWMC-Montlake and another for UWMC-Northwest.

Reduce single-use disposable items
The University of Washington has taken significant steps to reduce single-use disposable items across campus. This includes Housing & Food Services’ expansion of the Ozzi program, which now offers on-demand reusable containers to all meal plan holders. Additionally, a 50-cent charge has been added for single-use containers to encourage the use of reusables. Efforts to minimize food waste have also been implemented through staff training and pre-planning to prevent over-ordering. HFS also switched to durable dishware for dine-in options at dining halls.

Over the past year, Master of Health Administration capstone students partnered with UW Medicine to analyze and propose key sustainability projects. One initiative they identified focused on the diversion of surgical blue wrap waste from landfills. The students' research revealed that in 2023, UWMC generated over 20 metric tons of surgical blue wrap waste. This waste contributed to 27.68 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e) in greenhouse gas emissions and incurred disposal costs of $3,408. To address this issue, the students proposed several solutions:
Implementing in-house baling and recycling, similar to the system used at Harborview Medical Center
Establishing partnerships with vendors for more efficient waste management
Introducing sterilization boxes as an alternative, potentially eliminating the need for blue wrap entirely

The students determined that investing in sterilization boxes at UWMC would be a more advantageous solution, both environmentally and economically, compared to purchasing a baler for blue wrap recycling.

UW Bothell partnered with residential life staff to develop a green move out program, Give & Go, which educates student residents about the positive aspects of waste diversion. Summit Hall residents donated items they didn’t need, instead of disposing into dumpsters or hauling to large donation centers. UW Bothell collected more than 800 pounds of supplies which will go back to the campus community in the fall for no cost.

Additionally, UW Bothell installed sonar technology in dumpsters to track waste diversion and collection data. This data has already helped in the reduction of pick-ups, which results in cost savings and lower emissions from heavy duty vehicle miles traveled.

Fiscal year 2023 progress

FY2023 progress

Target actions for 2023

Divert compostable waste from recycling and landfill
Reduce single-use disposable items
Evaluate University contracts and sponsorships as opportunities to reduce waste

Divert compostable waste from recycling and landfill

One of the main opportunities for improving waste stream sorting and reducing contamination is in the residence halls. The student population in the residence halls is largely new to campus and often has less experience with the waste infrastructure of Seattle or the UW. By educating students in the residence halls, they are also able to use that knowledge throughout their time at UW and also help encourage peers to properly dispose of items.

UW Recycling worked with Housing and Food Services to expand outreach in residence halls, including creating and distributing door hangers with waste sorting guidance to every residence hall room at the beginning of Fall quarter. Every apartment unit received a “Sorting Sustainability” brochure with similar information. UW Recycling also held eight outreach events in housing locations and on-campus dining areas, providing information on proper recycling and composting and promoting the OZZI program which offers reusable takeout containers.

UW Recycling continued to promote the “Intro to Recycling” course for all staff and faculty on the bridge learning platform, and also created an alternative training open to students using Google forms.

Beyond residence halls, UW Recycling worked to expand the number of compost bins in buildings, including updating William Gates and Guthrie Halls to ensure adequate access to compost bins in common areas and kitchens, while also converted the building’s containers to single-stream recycling. Waste containers were also installed in two newly-constructed buildings, Health Sciences Education Building and Founders Hall.

In addition, over the past year Housing and Food Services has increased the use of compostable containers and products to reduce the amount of material in the recycling and landfill waste streams.

Reduce single-use disposable items

UW Recycling continued conversations with UW Sustainability, HFS and Procurement about creating a Zero-Waste Task Force for the University. No specific resources to create and ensure the success of such a task force have yet been identified.

Evaluate University contracts and sponsorships as opportunities to reduce waste

Over the last year, UW initiated a competitive process for the University’s 10-year beverage contract. UW Sustainability was invited to participate in the selection process to help ensure sustainability was central to the process and subsequent contract, including opportunities to reduce plastics and single-use plastic packaging, providing energy efficient vending machines, and much more. UW Sustainability hopes to identify other large-scale contract opportunities and work with the UW’s procurement and marketing team to ensure sustainability is integral to the selection process and contracts.

Fiscal year 2022 progress

FY 2022 progress

Target actions for 2022

Divert compostable waste from recycling and landfill
Implement low-waste campus kitchens
Reduce single-use disposable items

Divert compostable waste from recycling and landfill

To increase compost capacity on the Seattle campus, UW Recycling completed two building-wide waste infrastructure updates in FY22: Graves Hall and Graves Annex both adopted the MiniMax program in April 2022. Twelve compost bins were added to common areas and eating areas, and paper towel composting was added in 11 restrooms. UW Tower was updated to single-stream recycling in the summer of 2021 and public area bins were updated to include compost in each set which resulted in a net increase of 12 compost bins throughout the building.

UW Recycling hosted or attended 25 outreach events which reached 2,343 people, and 715 staff, faculty or students took the “Intro to Recycling & Waste Diversion at UW Seattle” online training. They were able to participate in in-person outreach again including blue bag outreach in tailgating areas during football games, tabling several times in Local Point dining hall, and tabling for the Sustainability Fair and Earth Day. Customer-facing waste sorting signage was updated in Local Point and back-of-house waste sorting signage was created and is expected to be posted in Summer 2022. The HUB’s 3D waste sorting displays were updated in partnership with the EcoReps student group and translated signage was added.

Implement low-waste campus kitchens

HFS has implemented overproduction tracking in all kitchens, allowing Dining to refine their purchasing decisions and reduce waste from unused food. HFS also has a partnership with the UW Food Pantry, providing an opportunity to distribute food through the Pantry that would have otherwise been wasted.

Reduce single-use disposable items

UW Recycling collaborated with the Post Landfill Action Network (PLAN), a zero waste consulting company, to create a Zero Waste Assessment Report covering all three campuses. The report was released in Fall 2021, and outlines potential long-term zero waste solutions for the university to improve sustainability performance.

The report was shared with all stakeholders and a blog post outlined key takeaways from the report. UW Recycling also presented the report to Facilities leadership in December 2021. Beyond a brief discussion on the report with the Sustainability office, UW Recycling did not have the bandwidth to meet with stakeholders to determine how to implement the changes outlined in the report.

Target IX: Waste

2025 update

10% LESS SOLID WASTE BY 2025

Status updates

2020-2025 wrap-up report

FY2024 progress

FY2023 progress

FY 2022 progress

Target metrics

Guiding principles of this target

Use Resources Responsibly

Decarbonize