Only the summary trends based on all survey responses will be made available to the general public. However, schools that complete the survey will be given special access to view and filter the individual responses of peer institutions based on Carnegie Classifications Size & Settings, athletic conference and other groupings.

The survey form includes an option at the very end to indicate if you wish to keep the identify of your school anonymous, including from other participating schools. In this case, other schools will only be able to view your responses based on Carnegie Classifications and other groupings with any identifying information stripped out. Note: no school and personal contact information will be shared with 3rd parties or used for marketing in any circumstance.

The best way to ensure you’ll be able to compare against specific other schools is to encourage your sustainability or facilities counterpart at those schools to complete the survey.

Absolutely! All higher ed institutions are encouraged to participate regardless of what (if any) recycling or diversion practices they have in place. A diverse sample of participants will help identify national trends.

This summer. Everyone who completes the survey will receive a notice once they are published.

We encourage reviewing the survey questions before starting the form, and if needed, consult colleagues to get answers to any questions you don’t know. If you do not have access to certain details, select the “Not sure” option included with most questions.

In general, your responses should reflect what’s happening at on a distinct campus. That may or may not include nearby off-campus facilities or auxiliary departments, as long as they include the same basic academic and/ or administrative settings. Satellite campuses outside the immediate area or with distinct identities should generally be treated separately. Just keep in mind that dining facilities, residential units and other distinct settings with unique waste streams and usage patterns are not included.

We understand high ed institutions are complex and there may be nuances to certain responses. The spirit of the survey is to understand what’s happening broadly at a given school. There may be exceptions to certain practices depending on the area of campus, in which case you could nonetheless represent the dominant situation or the clear trend for the institution as a whole. If there truly is no dominant practice, use the “other” option to explain the situation.

The survey asks for your diversion rate as general way to classify beginning versus more advanced waste reduction programs. There is not a specific standard for calculating this, but in general it should factor all sources of MSW waste generated for the institution as a whole. To ensure a reasonable apples- to- apples comparison, the calculation should exclude significant sources of one-time construction and demolition waste, and diversion should only apply to materials that are quantifiably recycled, composted, reused or source reduced. Material sent to waste-to-energy facilities should be classified with trash / landfill, not as recycling.

“Formally-adopted” is meant to distinguish between the loose, informal preferences that a recycling or custodial department may have for bin styles, colors, labels, etc. from more formal guidelines that have been vetted by and (if necessary) approved by a wider set of campus stakeholders. Because informal preferences can change with personnel, the survey is only interested in standardized guidelines that have broader institutional acceptance.

This refers to the individual waste and diversion bins / collection streams that are paired together at each locations. This question only applies if there is a consistent arrangement used in most locations. If there is no coordinated, consistent pattern, check the option for “Location dependent – No Standardized bin arrangement”.

This questions refers to any staff or contractor tasked with emptying deskside bins. The point of the question is to learn whether this service is provided to individual office staff and faculty members or whether they’re expected to empty them into the centralized bins in common areas.