Project Title: Zero Waste Research Center

Date: October 1, 2015

Campus: University of California, Berkeley

Project Leaders: Tara Singh; Anna Yip; Gary Richmond; Sharon Daraphonhdeth; Katherine Walsh; Lin King

Program Overview:

The Zero Waste Research Center (ZWRC) at UC Berkeley, a center led by career and student staff, conducts

research and implements projects that produce creative upstream waste diversion solutions. The ZWRC

prioritizes strategies such as purchasing and re-designing sustainable products, provoking behavior change, and

instituting closed-loop “circular economy” waste systems. The ZWRC tests these strategies via campus

projects, some of which include the Plastic Disclosure Project, the Environmentally Preferred Products (EPP)

Guidelines and Road Shows, Cal Athletics and Beverage Alliance sustainability initiatives, and campus lab

waste analysis. These projects strive to create a cradle-to-cradle campus waste management system and achieve

Zero Waste by 2020 at UC Berkeley. The Zero Waste Research Center was founded in 2012 by The Green

Initiative Fund and Campus Recycling and Refuse Services.

The ZWRC requests a total of $100,000 to further its research regarding waste reduction and developing

upstream solutions for achieving resource recovery and zero waste. Funding is requested to:

Partner with the manufacturers of products found in campus waste streams and develop recyclable and

compostable alternatives to these products;

Support student researchers who conduct waste audits, sustainable product analysis, and project

implementation;

Finance the operational costs of ZWRC project and program implementation.

Most importantly, funding these initiatives will assist in the development a UC system-wide approach toward

zero waste. If funding is allocated to the UC Berkeley Zero Waste Research Center, UC Berkeley can provide

the UC system with upstream solutions for achieving zero waste The following research areas and projects are

current initiatives of the ZWRC, all projects which need funding.

RESEARCH AREAS AND PROJECTS:

PLASTICS RECYCLING FACILITY:

The ZWRC is partnering with CRRS and faculty representatives from the College of Engineering, the Pavement

Research Center, and the Jacobs Institute on a local solution to reuse and recycle plastics on the UC Berkeley

campus through the creation of an on-site plastics recycling facility. The primary goal of this facility is to

convert campus’s plastic waste, including, plastic bottles, food containers, and plastic laboratory packaging, into

pellets to be used as material or binding filament for sustainable products.

For example, the ZWRC is researching the possibility of using said pellets as the starting material for binding

filament used by UC Berkeley’s 3-D printers. The Jacobs Institute has more than 100 3-D printers that could

utilize this recycled material. The ZWRC is also researching recycled plastics as a viable alternative in asphalt,

and is in communication with other universities and researchers who have used recycled plastic in their

pavement. The pellets could also be sourced to partnering laboratory product manufacturers, such as LabCon

and Kimberly Clark, to be repurposed into commonly used plastic laboratory supplies, such as pipette tips and

pipette tip boxes.

It is critical that the ZWRC has the necessary equipment and building infrastructure established for the Plastic

Recycling Facility to be successful. The facility’s costs include building upgrades, an extruder/washer to ensure

satisfactory plastic condition, and other equipment, such as a grinder to shred the plastics into pellet form. The

overall impact of creating a cradle-to-cradle, closed loop system will be a landmark achievement for the UC

system. The ZWRC expects this facility to serve as a model for other universities, particularly the UCs, and its

research shared with all interested parties.

PLASTIC DISCLOSURE PROJECT (PDP):

In October 2012, UC Berkeley became the first university to sign-on to the Plastic Disclosure Project (PDP)

thanks to the Zero Waste Research Center. The PDP encourages corporations, groups, individuals, etc. to

increase transparency in their respective plastic consumption by disclosing their plastics’ sources of production

and their plastics’ disposal pathways. The PDP measures the plastic footprint of UC Berkeley, identifying in its

waste streams commonly found plastic products, such as coffee cup lids, single-use disposable bottles and food

containers, and other rigid plastics. The ZWRC conducted waste audits of a variety of campus buildings, such

as an academic building (Wurster Hall), the basketball arena (Haas Pavilion), and a dining hall (Crossroads), for

the purposed of collecting PDP data. Additionally, the ZWRC conducted extensive research mapping out the

life cycle of common plastics. The final PDP Report will be published fall 2015.

LAB WASTE MANAGEMENT:

Campus laboratories produce great amounts of plastic waste, such as packaging and pipette tips, which often

end up in the landfill. This waste has led the Zero Waste Research Center to partner with UC Berkeley labs in

the development of zero waste lab practices. The ZWRC has collaborated with three locations Hildebrand Hall,

Valley Life Sciences Building and Life Sciences Annex, and Davis Hall to recycle common items. After

conducting multiple waste assessments and surveys in the engineering and chemistry labs, the ZWRC

developed recommendations for diverting items such as concrete, chemical glass bottles, chemical plastic

bottles, plastic pipette boxes, and other plastic packaging from the landfill.

ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERRED PRODUCTS (EPP) ROADSHOWS AND PURCHASING GUIDE:

In partnership with Sandy Macasieb and Alex Butler from UC Berkeley’s Supply Chain Management group,

and staff from CRRS, the ZWRC created a list of sustainable office products and promoted them at various

campus buildings through Environmentally Preferred Products (EPP) Roadshows. The selected products are

recycled-content, refillable, recyclable, and/or reusable. One such product is the Pilot B2P pen, a pen made

from recycled PET #1 plastic water bottles. The pen is also refillable which supports reuse rather than single-

use and disposal.

The Environmentally Preferred Products Roadshows support the ZWRC’s direct work with manufacturers, both

promoting these identified products to UC Berkeley’s faculty and staff, and hosting manufacturer

representatives at these roadshows. The Roadshows have strengthened the ZWRC’s relationships with

manufacturers, thereby creating opportunities for the ZWRC to influence other products within these

manufacturers’ portfolios.

REFILLS NOT LANDFILLS CAMPAIGN:

The ZWRC has launched Refills Not Landfills as UC Berkeley’s campaign to promote reusable products instead

of single-use disposable products. Priority products to address include single-use disposable cups, plastic

bottles, food containers, and service ware. The Refills Not Landfills campaign team (SERC, ZWRC, TGIF,

CRRS, Cal Dining, Beverage Alliance, and University Health Services) has identified the distribution of

reusable Klean Kanteen insulated mugs as an upstream strategy for addressing campus waste, particularly

single-use disposable cups and bottles. Free Klean Kanteen mugs are being distributed to campus staff and

students at select 2015-2016 campus events; mugs are also being sold daily at Cal Dining locations. In order to

receive a mug, a community member must first sign the Refills Not Landfills pledge. The Refills Not Landfills

leadership is also identifying reusable mug discounts at campus and local restaurants, and mapping these

discounts on a Google map for the campus community. Additionally, the team is working with restaurant

owners to provide Refills signage and education, encouraging reusable mugs and food-ware.

BULK BIN PROJECT:

The Bulk Bin project, a collaboration between Cal Dining and the Zero Waste Research Center, will install bulk

food dispensers at 4 on-campus retail locations. The bulk bins offer a unique, upstream approach for preventing

and eliminating both food and packaging waste, giving students the ability to buy different food items in

preferred quantities (through pricing by the pound) in compostable or reusable containers. The bulk bins will

reduce waste from individually plastic-packaged foods like candy, nuts, and cereal, and will incentivize students

by giving discounts to those who bring reusable containers to purchase the bulk items.

SUSTAINABILITY IN ATHLETICS:

Athletics Sustainability Internship Program

SERC hired and supervises student staff as Athletics Sustainability Interns, who research, identify, propose, and

implement sustainability practices within Cal Athletics, thereby supporting the efforts of the ZWRC. Focus

areas include Equipment, Operations, Venues, and Events, and identifying and advising an athlete sustainability

champion on every Cal Athletics team. One completed project includes the purchase and install of a reBounces

machine at the Cal Tennis team’s courts. The machine pressurizes tennis balls so they can be reused during

practices rather than discarded after matches and one-time use. Use tennis balls have also been donated to a

local elementary school for the bottoms of furniture legs. The Athletics Sustainability interns are researching

similar reuse and donation options for other athletic equipment.

Athletic Events

Zero waste education, outreach, and fan engagement are critical strategies deployed by the ZWRC to promote

upstream behavior changes in community members. The ZWRC, CRRS, and SERC have partnered on UC

Berkeley’s participation in the annual RecycleMania Game Day Challenge since 2013 and the Green Sports

Alliance Pac-12 Game Day Challenge since 2015. UC Berkeley has won the RecycleMania Game Day

Challenge consecutively from 2013-2015, and won the 2015 Inaugural Green Sports Alliance Pac-12 Game

Day Challenge. Pre-game best practices include collaborating with concessions to ensure all items sold are

compostable or recyclable, developing an educational video to be shown during the game, creating an

educational game to be played by fans during halftime, and installing zero waste bins and signage throughout

the basketball Pavilion. Game day best practices include student “trash talkers” assisting fans with waste

diversion and sorting, educational tabling throughout the Pavilion, and providing bins to collect used pom-poms

and discarded fan items for reuse at future games.

THE SUCCESS OF THE ZWRC RESULTS IN UC ZERO WASTE CAMPUSES:

Funding is sought for UC Berkeley’s Zero Waste Research Center because the Center’s products will not be

insular to the Berkeley campus. Its best practices will have the potential to copied and/or modified at other UC

campuses. The Center will research, design, and implement cradle-to-cradle waste management methods and

further the University of California’s Zero Waste by 2020 Goal. Additionally, the Center will provide job

opportunities and first-hand experience to undergraduate and graduate students looking to gain experience in

zero waste. The ZWRC will also extend civic engagement to the communities surrounding UC Berkeley main

campus and the Berkeley Global Campus, involving respective local stakeholders in some of its initiatives, such

as the Plastics Recycling Facility and Athletics events. The Zero Waste Research Center’s initiatives will go

beyond simply creating positive environmental campus change to breaking Town-Gown barriers, increasing

local social capital, and expanding educational and environmental opportunities for the campus and local

communities.