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University of Texas at Austin Battles with Recycling Contamination
In order to reach its goal of 90 percent, the university needs to ramp up its education and recycling efforts.
1 Min Read
University of Texas at Austin (UT) has a goal to achieve zero waste by 2020, but contamination in its recycling bins is keeping its diversion rate from increasing.
Currently, the campus diverts between 50 and 60 percent of its waste from landfill, which is up from 35 percent in 2011. But in order to reach its goal of 90 percent, the university needs to ramp up its education and recycling efforts.
The Daily Texan has more details:
UT is struggling to improve waste reduction on campus and has less than three years left to achieve the Zero Waste goal to divert 90 percent of the University’s trash away from landfills by 2020.
The campus-wide waste diversion rate currently lies between 50 and 60 percent. When the Zero Waste goal was set in 2011, the rate was around 35 percent, according to a 2014 report.
The diversion could be raised if students knew how to properly recycle, said Neil Kaufman, sustainability coordinator for the Division of Housing and Food Service. A large portion of waste is produced because students are either not recycling or recycling incorrectly, Kaufman said.
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