Inspection Failure at USF: Waste Sorting Mistakes Revealed

USF’s Waste Sorting Audit Reveals Areas for Growth

Recology landfill picture

USF disposes about 2.1 million pounds of waste annually, the equivalent of 12 Space Shuttle Endeavors or 160 African bush elephants. San Francisco completes an examination of USF’s waste stream to assess trash-sorting compliance every three years. To pass, we must sort compostables, recyclables, and trash correctly above specific thresholds. This year, we failed.

Garbage landfills are the third largest source of human-created methane emissions, significantly contributing to the climate crisis by producing greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere (Environmental Protection Agency, 2024). Along with accelerating Earth’s warming, landfills produce air pollution, soil pollution, and water pollution from leaching, deposition, and run-off. They harm the communities around them and create an unwelcoming environment for families who live nearby (Siddiqua, Hahladakis, & Al-Attiya, 2022). How do we thwart these landfills from ruining the planet? By sorting waste and recovering resources. Sorting minimizes the amount of waste dumped into landfills because compostable and recyclable items will be reused to create nutrient-rich soil and new products, respectively. This resource recovery is the key to reducing the size and impact of our landfills.

In 2018, San Francisco passed the Refuse Separation Compliance Ordinance that catalyzed refuse regulation initiatives. A “Large Refuse Generator” classification was given to properties that generate at least 40 cubic yards of disposed items per week. 40 cubic yards of trash is equivalent to 3-4 dump trucks, 3.5 school buses, or 8,000 watermelons. Per the City’s initiative, all Large Refuse Generators in San Francisco, including USF, must complete an audit every three years to assess if compostable, recyclable, and landfill waste are sorted correctly. If it fails an inspection, the organization must hire a Zero Waste Facilitator or pay up to $1,000 daily. In early 2022, USF’s landfill load failed the City’s inspection due to excessive presence of compostable and recyclable materials. This failure resulted in the creation of USF’s Zero Waste Coordinator position. Earlier this summer, another audit was conducted by the City, and USF’s landfill and compost loads exhibited high contamination and consequently failed the inspection. These audit results are a direct reflection of our community’s bad habits. Discarding waste in the correct bins is an easily neglected task but is vital in protecting our campus and the environment. Sorting waste is a collective effort of the students, faculty, staff, and community members who visit campus. Everyone is responsible for the health of our community.

USF offers many resources for students, faculty, staff, and community members to sort their trash properly. Clear signages with colors, images, and text are available in all dining halls, academic buildings, community spaces, and student housing to encourage everyone to sort responsibly. To further encourage students to separate their waste, student employees from the Office of Sustainability spend three weeks at the beginning of each semester in the dining spaces to educate their peers on trash separation. Shereen Sheikhhassan, USF’s current Zero Waste Coordinator, has implemented additional zero waste resources such as training sessions and workshops, and she says “there’s no excuse” for missorting waste. Shereen’s insights stem from her continuous work with refuse separation and zero-waste initiatives. She expressed that many large universities and businesses fail the audits because it is inevitable for a large institution to have mixed garbage in their bins regardless of how they are labeled. As a result, Emporium Centre (formerly Westfield SF Centre), Japan Center Malls, and other community spaces have hired sorters because it is easy for people to neglect to sort their trash.

If ever in doubt, please refer to sfrecycles.org to check how to sort your waste properly. Everyone must take a few seconds to thoughtfully consider which bin their waste goes in. This simple change will lessen the harmful impacts of landfills and improve resource recovery, nurturing a cleaner environment and home.

This is a list of the most common missorted items that contaminate USF’s waste bins:

USF's commonly missorted trash items