Collaboration key to sustainability awards success

Overall winner of the Environmental Sustainability Award, the Food Waste Diversion Trial which arranged for the diversion of 132 tonnes of food waste from landfill over a 12 month period, was described as a complex, well managed project integrated among many different actors. Coordinated by professional and academic staff at Campus Life (Accommodation), the Sustainability Office and the Faculty of Science Sustainability Network, as well as students, it also involved partnerships with outside organisations such as the catering company that runs the University’s commercial kitchens.

Originally a 12-week project begun in September 2016, the Food Waste Diversion Trial was later extended and continued during 2017.  The main objective of the trial was to divert food waste from landfill and into a composting stream via a dedicated collection system and disposal at a composing facility.

At each of the four participating sites, including three commercial kitchens at O’Rorke, UniHall and Whitaker accommodation halls and one commercial kitchen in the main Quad, kitchen staff and student residents were required to separate food waste from the rest of the waste in special bins that were then collected separately.  The recovered food waste was transported to a composting facility in Tuakau.  In addition, dining areas at the hall were designated as waste free with only food waste scrap stations available there and no other types of wastes or recyclables accepted.

A programme which significantly improved the sustainability of the ASPiRE Professional Staff Conference received a highly commended award in the environmental sustainability category.   Described as a pan-university working group, the ASPiRE ‘sustainability’ committee involved staff, students and other stakeholders in the 2017 project including the 500 conference delegates, members of the Campus Life team, Property Services and OGGB reception staff, Human Resources, EVS logistics team, Flame-Tree, City Cleaning and Campus Operations.

Building on an audit following the 2016 conference, the ASPiRE ‘sustainability’ committee introduced a range of new initiatives in 2017 including the elimination of single-use water bottles and disposable vessels, a move towards local, seasonal food options, new design for signage on method bins to avoid stream contamination, gifting plants instead of other consumables and providing lanyards made from recycled materials.  The improvements resulted in the diversion of 93 percent of waste from landfill (measured by weight) and 76 percent (measured by volume).In a nice example of circularity, the ASPiRE conference was one of the events able to separate food waste for composting by piggy backing off the Food Waste Diversion Trial.

In announcing the award winners, the University’s Manager for Sustainability and Environment, Dr Lesley Stone, thanked the many people who care enough to take action in the sustainability space. “Know that what you are doing is an important strand that when woven together with many others, within and beyond the University, does make a difference.”

The initiatives of the ASPIRE team and other nominees, specifically the Faculty of Science’s Green Chemistry initiative and the Business Transformation Office’s Digital Forms initiative, will be showcased in upcoming articles.