Expand Campus Compost Programs

This initiative proposes to expand the University of Arizona's composting efforts by integrating comprehensive post-consumer compost collection across the campus. By institutionalizing compost collection as a utility managed by University Facility Services and incorporating it into dining contracts, the university can enhance waste diversion rates and reduce scope 3 emissions. Leveraging existing partnerships and increasing educational outreach will support this expansion, making composting a standard practice across all campus buildings by 2040. Actionable items include:

• University Facility Services should institutionalize the collection of compost, similar to how trash and recycling are collected campus-wide as a standard service.
• Expand back-of-house compost collection to additional locations throughout the Student Unions and other campus kitchens.
• Implement three-bin waste stations across campus, especially in dorms, to include compost collection alongside trash and recycling.
• Establish post-consumer composting in all campus buildings by 2040, including offices and dorms, with standardized training for composting best practices.
• Collaborate with Student Unions and Procurement & Contracting Services to shift towards reusable and truly compostable dining ware and explore funding opportunities for an industrial composting machine to handle bioplastics.