‍Top: Carleton College’s Free & For Sale Frenzy event
Left: University of Louisville students with a head of celery found in a dumpster!
Right: Haverford College students conducting a waste audit

Original post date: October 2021

Today, we are excited to release the first annual list of Top 10 Zero Waste Campuses in the United States (as assessed by PLAN’s Atlas Zero Waste Certification™ Program)!

We also wanted to take a moment to offer some critical self-reflection on the pros and cons of releasing a Top 10 list.

We are hesitant to play into the trope of campus competitions for a few reasons. First, we have been openly critical of these in the past. For example, this Instagram post covers our complicated feelings about recycling competitions. We are aware that competitions often don’t incentivize the types of system change we need to turn the tide on the ever-growing production of single-use disposable plastics and the demands that the latest IPCC report places on all of us to build systems that effectively reduce consumption at the systemic level. Campuses often use competition platforms that don’t call for systemic changes as a method of greenwashing their overall sustainability efforts by highlighting an objectively small accomplishment in the grand scheme of their overall sustainability efforts. We believe that PLAN’s new assessment framework focuses on systemic impacts:

Atlas' Systemic Impacts

• We spent four years building the Atlas Zero Waste Assessment™, working with two campus advisory councils and over a dozen pilot campuses from all over the United States to ensure that our assessment was rigorous, thorough, and didn’t leave space for greenwashing or gamification of the points system. The points-based analysis that Atlas provides is a quantitative method of measuring qualitative impact. We assess the qualitative because we know that the diversion metric does not effectively measure zero waste, and we want to focus this assessment on the responsibility of institutions to provide the systematic infrastructure necessary to achieve zero waste.
• This assessment sets a high bar to achieve even a Bronze certification. It is worth noting that the top-scoring campus so far has only scored a 73.5% (essentially, a C minus), and that the average campus score so far has been in the low 50s. For more scoring information and a detailed FAQ on the project’s methodology and analysis, check out this page.
• Updating the assessment is a constantly evolving process. As we learn more about emerging best practices and we research new technologies, we will continue to raise the bar for what it takes to be certified as a zero waste campus. If you would like to suggest updates or additions to the assessment, please fill out this form and we will be in touch!
• The Atlas Zero Waste Certification™ is a call to action. We are looking for campuses to step up and take responsibility for the materials they manage and the waste they produce.
• We want this Top 10 list to serve as a space to highlight campuses for their achievements and innovations. We have yet to see a campus achieve zero waste, or come close, and we don’t even know if it’s possible under the current circumstances present within the capitalist system of linear consumption. Under each campus’s scores, we have included details of their programs and links to learn more about their work.

We also realize that this list is not representative of the wide diversity of campuses in the United States, and generally includes only well-funded and well-resourced campuses that are also predominantly white institutions (PWIs). We currently offer all campuses in the United States the opportunity to request assessment and certification services from PLAN at a discounted rate or for free, and we even offer stipends for student Fellows if their campuses could not otherwise afford to pay for this program. We are continuing to work on our efforts to improve our equitable access systems, and welcome thoughts and feedback from the community. Please feel free to reach out to us at any time by emailing atlas@postlandfill.org!

Keeping those reflections in mind, we’re excited to share the profiles of the Top 10 Zero Waste Campuses (as assessed by Atlas).

Apply for Atlas Zero Waste Certification!

Left: Students at a campus climate rally
Right: Students gathered around a solar finder for solar energy research

Bar Harbor, ME I 350 students I Private | COA’s full Atlas Zero Waste Scorecard

• Scope 1: 62.4% – BRONZE
• Scope 2: 83.0% – GOLD

College of the Atlantic

Left: Students conducting a Waste Audit in August 2018
Right: Chou Hall Zero Waste Initiative tabling

Berkeley, CA I 41,900 students I Public | UC Berkeley’s full Atlas Zero Waste Scorecard

• Scope 1: 65.6% – BRONZE
• Scope 2: 69.4% – BRONZE

UC Berkeley

Left: Signs from the No Impact Challenge, where students carried around their waste for a week!
Right: Student with a Green2Go reusable container in the dining hall

Northfield, MN I 2,000 students I Private
Carleton College doesn’t have a scorecard because their assessment was performed as part of Atlas Zero Waste’s pilot program, prior to the development of the scorecard. Scope 1 & 2 were not assessed during the early pilot phase of Atlas.

Carleton College

Left: HaverFarm stand on campus; Right: Haverford’s (Re)use store

Haverford, PA I 1,300 students I Private | Haverford’s full Atlas Zero Waste Scorecard

• Scope 1: 63.8% – BRONZE
• Scope 2: 59.4%

Haverford College

Left: Campus Clean Up Day 2021
Right: Green Game Day 2021

Storrs, CT I 32,100 students I Public | UConn’s full Atlas Zero Waste Scorecard

• Scope 1: 62.7% – BRONZE
• Scope 2: 58.1%

University of Connecticut

Left: UML’s mascot, Rowdy the River Hawk, next to bin signage
Right: Move out program

Lowell, MA I 17,800 students I Public

UMass Lowell doesn’t have a scorecard because their assessment was performed as part of Atlas Zero Waste’s pilot program, prior to the development of the scorecard.

University of Massachusetts, Lowell

Left: Campus Free Store
Right: Students with a full head of celery found in a dumpster

Louisville, KY I 23,200 students I Public | UofL’s full Atlas Zero Waste Scorecard

• Scope 1: 63.4% – BRONZE
• Scope 2: 53.9%

University of Louisville

Left: Students composting in the dining hall
Right: Sustainability office tabling

Burlington, VT I 11,900 students I Public | UVM’s full Atlas Zero Waste Scorecard

• Scope 1: 57.9%
• Scope 2: 57.8%

University of Vermont

Left: UW’s 2019 Trash-In event
Right: Surplus storage unit

Seattle, WA I 46,000 students I Public | UW’s full Atlas Zero Waste Scorecard

• Scope 1: 58.5%
• Scope 2: 55.5%

University of Washington

• The University of Washington has committed to three target actions under its Strategic Plan Goal IX: 10% Solid Waste by 2025 – divert compostable waste from recycling and landfill, implement low-waste campus kitchens, and reduce single-use disposable items. Currently, each of its approximately 40 dining facilities offers both front-of-house and back-of-house composting, and UW Recycling ensures consistency and standardization in color, style, signage, and placement of its 3-bin waste collection system campus-wide.
• Housing & Food Services Sustainable Dining initiatives include its robust food recovery program, partnering with the off-campus organization Food LifeLine and the on-site Food Pantry. All to-go ware is compostable, including dining ware distributed by national brands such as Starbucks.
• The campus also offers many options for reusing and repairing Scope 1 items. All campus departments are required to use UW Surplus, which makes items available to students as well as staff members. In addition, the UBike program rents out bicycles for an academic quarter to students at low cost, all campus members can access the library’s Computer Vet service for software troubleshooting, and multiple HRM collection locations are mapped out around campus.

Left: Scrape Your Plate program
Right: Sustainable St. Thomas students at an event

St. Paul, MN I 9,900 students I Private | St. Thomas’ full Atlas Zero Waste Scorecard

1. Scope 1: 49.0%
2. Scope 2: 60.5% – BRONZE

University of St. Thomas

Learn more about Atlas Zero Waste Certification!

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