Image of UC Davis Student Farm compost bins.

Zero Waste

Sustainability Goals

Zero Waste goals for UC undergraduate campus:

  • Divert 90% of municipal solid waste from the landfill
  • Reduce per capita municipal solid waste generation by:
    • 25% below FY 2015/16 levels by 2025
    • 50% below FY 2015/16 levels by 2030
  • Reduce and eliminate single-use plastic items such as bag, foodware accessory items and beverage bottles by 2024. For more on this goal see Single-Use Plastics.

Waste reduction goals for UC health campuses:

  • Achieve a target of 25 pounds of total waste per adjusted patient day by 2025
  • Strive for 20 pounds of total waste per adjusted patient day by 2030

Progress

 

Davis Campus – Waste Diverted

As of July 2023

A graph showing the campus diversion rate from 2016 to 2023 compared to the UC goal of 90%.

 

Source: UC Sustainability Annual Report 2023

 

Davis Campus – Waste Generated

As of July 2023

A graph showing the campus waste generation in pounds per person per day for the years 2016 to 2023.

 

Source: UC Sustainability Annual Report 2023

 

 

Sacramento Campus – Waste Generated

As of July 2023

A graph showing the campus waste generation in pounds per person per day for the years 2021 to 2023.

 

Source: UC Sustainability Annual Report 2023

Campus Actions

Reduce

Waste reduction is highest on the waste management hierarchy, and for good reason. Avoiding waste generation in the first place saves natural resources used during the production process, and also avoids the labor, resources, and impacts from having to manage the waste at its end of life.

The Davis campus encourages waste reduction in a variety of ways including water refill stations, discounts at select campus food retail locations for bringing in reusable cups and plates, and educational campaigns (e.g. MyLastTrash campaign to encourage reusable cups, utensils, bags and napkins).

Reuse

Next on the waste hierarchy is reuse. Reusing items keeps it out of the landfill while it is still useful.

The Davis campus has two on-campus reuse stores that are open to the public, Aggie Surplus (for surplus items donated by campus departments like furniture, lab equipment and office supplies) and Aggie Reuse (for student-donated clothing and home goods). The campus also holds two bike auctions every year to give abandoned bikes on campus a second home.

The campus also washes and reuses the gravel bedding at the Primate Center.

Recycle/Compost

Lower on the waste hierarchy (but still higher than landfill), is recycle and compost. By creating new products out of existing items, recycling keeps items out of the landfill and helps avoid the need to harvest and produce new products out of raw materials.

The Davis campus collects and recycles conventional materials (paper, cardboard, containers made from plastic, class, or aluminum) across campus. Select locations and special recycling programs may also recycle construction and demolition waste, scrap metal, hardbound books, lab gloves, toners and inkjets, and mattresses from the residence halls.

Increasing locations across campus collect compostable materials like food waste, paper towels, compostable plastic and paper food packaging, wooden utensils, and pizza boxes.

Waste Competitions

Along with many other colleges and universities nationwide, UC Davis participates in competitions that rank campuses based on how much waste is diverted.  Two notable competitions that UC Davis participates in are the Game Day Challenge, which highlights diversion efforts at the UC Davis Health Stadium during the football season, Campus Race to Zero Waste (formerly RecycleMania), which focuses on recycling efforts during the winter academic quarter, and the EPA Food Recovery Challenge, which focuses on food organics prevention/source reduction and diversion.