Over the past year, the University has supported multiple, unique programs that contribute to UVA’s waste reduction goals – including expanding composting and recycling on Grounds and reducing single-use plastics.
The University’s work to reduce single-use plastics earned a gold medal in the 2022 Governor’s Environmental Excellence Gold Awards in March 2022. UVA was recognized for its comprehensive education and outreach work to implement Executive Order 77 issued in March 2021 by then-Governor Ralph Northam to eliminate single-use plastics at all state entities.
“For quite some time, UVA has been making progress on reducing all types of waste on Grounds, so we were really excited to ramp up our focus on single-use plastics – things like water bottles, cutlery and dining ware,” said Lela Garner, sustainability specialist with the Office for Sustainability and a leader in the working group dedicated to implementing the executive order.
“It was great to collaborate with representatives from all of UVA’s units to meet the challenge of implementing EO77 in a short time frame,” she said. “We’ve got the momentum now to keep the effort growing.”
UVA expanded its composting efforts this year with pilot programs at the Amphitheater and Palmer Park. (Photo courtesy of Office for Sustainability)
In addition to the single-use plastic reduction, UVA expanded its composting efforts with pilot programs at the Amphitheater and Palmer Park. The programs aimed to increase diversion of waste from the landfill and to capture the increase in compostable service ware provided by dining halls, food trucks and concessions.
The key to the success of the Amphitheater program was due to the Zero Waste student ambassadors, who sorted the material in the bins and removed non-compostable items. Palmer Park, a LEED Silver-certified softball stadium, piloted a full season of composting with bins on the concourse and at concessions stands, as well as ample communications including signs, PA announcements and graphics on the big screen. The result was 320 pounds of waste diverted from the landfill.
UVA Health staff identified an opportunity to recycle outdated X-rays by recovering the silver in the X-rays, recouping $142,000 and diverting 289,215 pounds of waste from the landfill. A second phase of X-ray recycling diverted another 56,663 pounds from the landfill.
In the summer of 2022, UVA Recycling’s ROSE (Reusable Office Supply Exchange) program saw a big uptick in visitors leading into the new school year. The program collects gently or never used office supplies from departments throughout UVA and makes these materials available for free to students, staff and faculty, as well as to the broader public community.
UVA has a goal to reduce its waste footprint to 70% of 2010 levels by 2030, which includes both minimizing the amount of waste generated and the amount sent to landfills. The University has so far achieved a reduction of 38.8% of total waste generated. In calendar year 2021, the University reused/composted/recycled 35.5% of the waste generated, sending 8,417 tons of waste to landfill.
