Reducing solid waste in higher education: The first step towards ‘greening’ a university campus

Danielle P. Smyth, Arthur L. Fredeen and Annie L. Booth

Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2010, vol. 54, issue 11, 1007-1016

Abstract: Comprehensive solid waste management programs are one of the greatest challenges to achieving campus sustainability. Conducting a waste characterization study is a critical first step in successful waste management planning and advancing the overall sustainability of an institution of higher education. This paper reports on a waste characterization study that was conducted at the Prince George campus of the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). The aim of the study was to determine the amount and composition of waste generated within key campus operational areas and to provide recommendations to senior university administration on strategies for waste minimization, higher rates of recycling and composting and improving the overall sustainability of the campus waste management program. It was determined that during the 2007–2008 academic year the Prince George campus produced between 1.2 and 2.2metric tonnes of waste per week, of which more than 70% could have been diverted through waste reduction, recycling and composting activities. Paper and paper products, disposable drink containers and compostable organic material represented three of the most significant material types for targeted waste reduction and recycling efforts. Various educational and policy techniques, which may be used to promote campus community waste minimization behaviours in the long term, are discussed.

Keywords: Waste characterization; Sustainability; Higher education; Waste minimization; Recycling; British Columbia; Canada (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344910000492
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:recore:v:54:y:2010:i:11:p:1007-1016

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2010.02.008

Access Statistics for this article

Resources, Conservation & Recycling is currently edited by Ming Xu

More articles in Resources, Conservation & Recycling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kai Meng ().