A new University of Washington study has confirmed the best option for disposing of unused food and yard waste is composting rather than sending it to the landfill.
Food waste generates the greenhouse gas methane when it decomposes in landfills, but not when it's composted. Cities such as Seattle with municipal composting avoid generating a large amount of methane as a result of keeping the organic materials out of the landfill.
For the third straight year, the University of Washington will be competing in RecycleMania, a friendly tournament where national college campuses compete during the course of eight weeks to see which can reduce, reuse and recycle the most on-campus waste. The UW will take on nationwide universities, including Pac-12 rivals Arizona State University, Stanford, University of Oregon and Washington State University.
Every year 7.2 million tons of food is wasted and thrown away, which releases 17 million tons of CO2. Wasting food costs the environment and economy with landfill production and disposal costs. However, the University of Washington has a great food waste composting program, which provides compostable napkins, cups straws and containers in all dining facilities.
Hello again. Today I’d like to continue our series about how to be eco-friendly in a laboratory. Remember last weeks post about the initiative at the Simon Fraser University? Here’s another university promoting green laboratories: the University of Washington.
Students, faculty and staff at UW Bothell can now recycle small electronics on campus, thanks to a new partnership with Waste Management. “We evaluated several programs, and ultimately selected the “Cartridges for Kids” project with Waste Management,” says Tony Guererro, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Facilities Services at UW Bothell. The program, which has been used widely in K-12 schools in Washington State, will return a portion of recycling proceeds back to UW Bothell. Guererro says funds could be used to fund student sustainability projects.
Beginning today, the University of Washington is competing in RecycleMania—the national competition in which college campuses compete over eight weeks to see which can reduce, reuse and recycle the most on-campus waste. The UW will take on Pac-12 rivals WSU, ASU and Stanford, among other universities nationwide.
Sorting your waste at UW is now a little clearer with 3-D visuals showing ideal disposal. The new visuals, located in the HUB and By George Café, aim to simplify waste disposal on campus and encourage greater composting and recycling. UW Sustainability led the project in partnership with the UW Garbology Project, UW Housing and Food Services, and UW Recycling.