Josh Rebello, one of USC’s four zero waste auditors, spoke at the USC Sustainability Hub in the Student Union on Friday, giving an update on the university’s goal of reaching zero waste by 2028.
The university defines zero waste as diverting 90% of all waste generated away from landfills and incineration. USC President Carol Folt announced the zero waste goal in 2019, when the university only diverted 20% of its waste from landfills and incineration sites. Currently USC is diverting about 50% of that waste.
This has been achieved by assembling USC’s zero waste team. One of the team’s primary initiatives is spreading multi-stream waste bins around campus. These bins have three openings, one for trash, one for recyclables, and one for compost.
The bins are located in several locations, for example, all Marshall buildings are now fully equipped with the bins, and the team aims to have them in all buildings by 2026. There are also exterior multi-stream bins around campus and the USC village that the team is looking to place more commonly.
The difficulty associated with these bins is that every building and area of campus has its own custodial team that needs to be trained on how to sort these bins and ensure the waste, recyclables and compostable materials end up at the proper destination.
These bins take advantage of the fact that 80% of people will throw their trash away in the assigned place, if it is easy to do so. With clearly labeled signage and pictures, the bins make it easy for students to decisively sort their trash and support USC in continuing to work towards the zero waste goal.
Another project the waste team is working on is limiting the trash produced. As a part of the initiative, the team is working in collaboration with the Ronald Tutor Campus Center to find a vendor that can supply them with recyclable paper cups. They are also working with Everybody’s Kitchen to start using reusable containers instead of single-use for takeout.
The Sustainability Hub hosts Waste Education Wednesday every week in which one of the waste auditors explains the Zero Waste by 2028 project and answers any audience questions.