Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Responsible Consumption and Production Globally
Sustainable Development Goal 12 is intertwined with economic, environmental,
and social sustainability. For too long, economic growth has been contingent upon
worldwide consumption and environmental degradation. To accomplish
SDG 12 [Sustainable Development Goal 12]
the United Nations encourages a reimaging of the way we consume and dispose of resources.
Annually, an estimated 1/3 of all food produced ends up being disposed of because
of harvesting and transportation issues. At our current rate of growth, we will need three planets worth of resources to provide for the world
population. As the UN puts it, we must find ways to “do more
and better with less.”
Responsible Consumption and Production Locally
On campus at UT Dallas, the total waste generated per weighted campus
user is 0.12 tons. 30.36% of these materials are diverted from the landfill. In the
recycling program, the contamination rate is around. 7.60%. The full report of
our Waste Minimization and Diversion can be seen through our 2019 AASHE Report. Below are some ways we are working
to reduce waste and consume responsibly at UTD.
Highlights
Campus Race to Zero Waste
SDG 4: Quality Education
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Every year, students from ECO, Student Government, and Eco Reps all help to
support UTD’s Campus Race to Zero Waste effort by helping to collect data and
educate peers to reduce waste and increase recycling. Staff also conducted an internal
contamination audit to determine the contamination rate at UTD and identify strategies
to reduce contamination where issues presented. For the 2021 competition, UT Dallas
Eco Reps launched an informative social media campaign, educating students about
specialty recycling streams and ways to reduce their waste. Eco Rep Anastasia Whittemore
also began UTD’s first ever Zero Waste Coalition, involving students outside of
Eco Reps to be involved in the education effort. Together, the Zero Waste Coalition
hosted an informative trivia night to celebrate the Campus Race to Zero Waste competition.
Sustainable Dining & Food Waste Reduction
SDG 1: No Poverty
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
Composting is an important part of the campus waste management program that is
continuously evolving. Pre-Consumer food waste contributions began in 2011 in partnership
with Dining Services and Facilities Management. In August 2017, a partnership with
Organix Recycling formed and enhanced the overall composting program at UT Dallas.
With the transition, specialized compost containers were installed near kitchen locations,
therefore simplifying the pre-consumer food waste collection process. With this new
partnership, additional food items became acceptable in the waste stream that were not
previously accepted (for example, meat and dairy products), increasing the
amount of food waste that is recycled. As of current, Dining Services has taken the
lead and moved to all food waste collections in Dining Hall West.
The UTD Marketing Club partnered with the Office of Sustainability and Dining
Services to create educational signage placed in the dining hall to educate students
about food waste and how to participate in the composting program.
The University of Texas at Dallas has evolved its composting program from
previously targeting only landscape waste, to including pre- and post-consumer food waste,
and now to providing students, staff, and faculty the opportunity to compost on-campus.
Since 2012, UT Dallas has composted over 420,700 lbs. of food waste, therefore
diverting 81 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere campus wide. Since expanding the
compost program into Housing in September 2018, over 2,950 lbs. of food waste have
been composted from on-campus resident participants.
Composting has been on the mind of students for many years. In fall 2018, the
UT Dallas Student Government Green Initiative Committee took the lead and
collaborated with The Office of Sustainability within Facilities Management, Housing,
and Organix Recycling to make the composting program accessible to residents of
University Village and Canyon Creek Apartments. In order to participate in the program,
residents must attend a compost training. At the training, residents will learn what
goes in the compost containers, how to manage individualized food collection caddies,
and acquire a combination for the lock securing the containers. In 2021, Eco Rep
Caroline Lonneman led the Comet Composting Challenge, registering 30+ new
participants in Comet Composting through completion of an online training and picking
up an individualized caddy.
Specialty Recycling Programs & Recycling Locator
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being
SDG 13: Climate Action
Recycling is a key aspect for reducing our environmental impact at UT Dallas.
Recycle bins are located on the interior and exterior of buildings across campus.
UT Dallas operates a single-stream recycling program. This means you can place
cardboard, paper, aluminum cans, metal cans, plastics (1-5 and 7), and
unbroken glass bottles in a recycling bin. Specialty recycling streams include batteries,
cardboard, clothing and shoes, confidential paper shredding, electronics, metal,
nitrile gloves, plastic wrap, printer cartridges and toner, Styrofoam packing peanuts,
Styrofoam #6 (polystyrene), and used binders. Disposable mask recycling
was also introduced in Fall of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a
partnership with Teracycle, 6 disposable mask recycling locations were introduced
across campus.
Read more about Recycling at UT Dallas.
Check out our Specialty Recycling Locator.
Sustainable Purchasing
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 15: Life on Land
The University of Texas at Dallas is comprised of numerous departments
and offices. Throughout the workday, paper is a high use product in producing reports,
plans, programs, and many other uses. To reduce the overall cost of paper purchasing,
The Office of Sustainability recommends evaluating the feasibility of utilizing digital
documents and shared drives when practical and possible. If this is not possible,
please consider purchasing post-consumer recycled office paper. In Office Paper Purchasing,
6.71% of expenditures are on paper that is 90-100% post-consumer recycled and/or
agriculture residue content and/or FSC Recycled Label. Most office supply retailer’s
offer recycled paper products. In the Electronics Purchasing area, 21.23% of
electronic products are EPEAT gold registered. Additionally, 77.38% of janitorial
paper products are FSC, Green Seal, and/or UL ECOLOGO certified. The University-wide
Sustainability Committee at UT Dallas is also currently developing a plan to reduce
single use plastic purchasing and usage on campus. In coming years, the Office of
Sustainability hopes to take further action in sustainable purchasing.
Hazardous Waste Management
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being
SDG 15: Life on Land
A campus-wide Pollution Prevention Plan is in place that covers several initiatives
for source reduction and waste minimization (SRR/WM) on campus, including:
- Tracking waste generated and disposal costs by source to help focus waste
minimization activities. The majority of these waste types are generated by
laboratories, therefore; a large effort is made to work closely with them. This
includes a training system for labs encouraging these SW/WM activities, some
of which are detailed below.
- Campus-wide recycling efforts, including for facilities buildings and campus
apartments. This includes the ongoing project of switching from fluorescent lamps to
LED [Light Emitting Diode]
to reduce toxicity of waste and frequency of replacement.
- All laboratory chemical orders must be reviewed by UT Dallas’ Chemical
Safety team through UT Dallas’ procurement system. This has caught
mistakes in ordering (ex. 200 liters ordered versus the intended 20 liters),
resulting in less unused chemicals and safer storage conditions on campus. It also
alerts the hazardous waste team of any new potential wastes to be generated on campus.
- UT Dallas also utilizes a Chemical Inventory System
(CIS [Chemical Inventory System] ),
which inventories and tracks all hazardous chemicals in laboratories. This allows
lab members to easily find chemicals that are needed and share chemicals, if needed
in small amounts, reducing the chemicals coming onto campus.
- UT Dallas also has a program to track certain chemicals of concern, which
degrade with age. Quarterly, a report containing “expiring” chemicals
is managed by the Chemical Safety team and communicated to the relevant labs.
This program encourages the chemicals to be used before expiration or increased
hazard, reducing the waste generated.
- The UT Dallas also has an Institutional Biosafety and Chemical Safety Committee
(IBCC [Institutional Biosafety and Chemical Safety Committee] ),
which reviews the need and subsequent safe management of particularly hazardous
chemicals. This helps address the actual need for certain chemicals to reduce
particularly hazardous chemicals on campus.
Landscape Management & Construction Waste Diversion
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 15: Life on Land
At UT Dallas, the collected landscape waste materials are integrated into the
campus composting operations. Small and medium sized tree limbs are placed in a brush
pile where they are eventually shredded down and reused on-campus. Leaves are collected
on-campus in heavy duty, reusable bags. The leaves are collected on-campus and added
with pre-consumer food waste to make compost, then mixed with soil and reused on campus.
UT Dallas also harvests milkweed seeds from our Monarch Waystation to replenish
the station. This reduces the demand for milkweed seed purchases from external
parties which is protective of campus resources.
In the reporting year for our 2019
AASHEAssociation of Advancement in Higher Education
report, the only capital project under construction was the new Science Building.
In this project, an estimated 78.23% of construction and demolition materials
were diverted from the landfill.
Goals / Future Work
- Continue improving waste diversion and minimization through participation
in the Campus Race to Zero Waste competition
- Involve more on-campus residents in the Comet Composting effort
Other Work We Do
The programs highlighted here are just one piece of the work we do on campus to achieve
SDG 12 [Sustainable Development Goal 12] .
View the full dataset (PDF [Portable Document Format File] ),
guided by the Association of Advancement in Higher Education
(AASHEAssociation of Advancement in Higher Education)’s
Sustainable Development Goal translation guide.
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