LiveGreen: UNMC barbecue is campus’ first zero-waste event

The UNMC BBQ was held in the Ruth and Bill Scott Student Plaza less than two weeks ago. It was a beautiful day with hundreds of people showing up to play games, eat good (free!) food and find information on campus opportunities. There was even a Zumba demonstration.

It also was the campus’s first zero-waste event.

So what is a zero-waste event?

At a zero-waste event, 90 percent of all the waste generated, in preparation for and at the event, will be diverted from the landfill, generally by recycling and composting. While technically not zero waste, the 10 percent allows for things that are unavoidable. This includes such items as plastic wrap that protects unprepared food (uncooked meat) that planners cannot control, and/or improper sorting by attendees.

UNMC can control the types of food served and can work to keep that waste to a minimum. It also can control the items given to the end user to make sure they can be composted or recycled.

A special thanks to the LiveGreen volunteers who stood at the waste stations and made sure attendees got the right items in the right place. If you see Vicky Cerino, Ashley Ryan, Chrystal Nathan, Jessie Horst, Tricia Saxton, Victoria Smith, Kimberly Norman, Debbie Vidlak, Theresa Pikschus, and/or Darren Dageforde, please thank them. They made this happen.

Don’t forget to thank the planning committee and Sodexo too.

So how did we do?

Meals served: 918
Compost: 289 pounds
Mixed plastics and metal recycling: 81.4 pounds
Cardboard recycling: 37 pounds

EnergyBag/soft plastics: 17.8 pounds
Landfill: 17.4 pounds
Total: 96.07 percent diverted from the landfill

Impressive! More than 900 meals and only 17 pounds of trash. That comes out to 0.02 pounds per person and has us easily diverting the 90 percent required.

The box on the ground (photo at right) is the only trash created at the event; the back of the pickup is all recycling. This does not count the five totes full of future compost.

Can you host a zero-waste event? Maybe a departmental meeting or even a meal at home? Even if you are not 100 percent successful, you may start to notice ways to reduce your waste, and save you money. If you have successes or tips you think other people should know about, please email LiveGreen or comment on this post.