1. Campus Program/
Process Details
In order to facilitate either type waste
audit our intern carries out the follow-
ing steps:
• Send out emails to our staff through
list-serves and campus groups
through the campus community
service website to enlist the help of
volunteers, including a google doc so
volunteers can sign up for shifts when
they get the email
• Send out instructions and informa-
tion to said volunteers regarding
general overview of what they will
be responsible for on their volunteer
shift, along with a meeting location
Key Contacts
Overview
I
n response to the zero waste
initiative established by the
UCOP The Coffee House
started conducting waste audits
of our operation to define a
baseline for our diversion rates.
Since 2014 we have completed
two types of waste audits, a total
diversion waste audit, where we
weigh all waste from the entire
day and contamination audit
where we sort through customer
trash. From the total diversion
waste audits we were able to
define a baseline for how much
we are diverting from the landfill
into our other streams, recycling,
pre-consumer compost and
post-consumer compost. From
our contamination audits we
were able to see both what we
are currently diverting as well
as what our potential diversion
rates could be if everybody was
sorting their waste accurately.
Both audits also gave us insight
into where we need to enhance
customer and employee
education about waste sorting.
As a result we have changed
signage, changed packaging for
certain items and switched over
items to be either compostable
or recyclable. Although I serve as
the sustainability manager I rely
heavily on our student intern to
facilitate and coordinate these
audits. I worked very closely
with our current intern and the
previous one to develop all the
instructions and guidelines I will
explain below
Susie Houlden
schoulden@ucdavis.edu
Student Training & Resources
for Staffing Sustainability
• Email all staff that will be impacted
by the waste audit, including instruc-
tions on what they will need to do
differently for the day
• Put up signs throughout our opera-
tion the day of with similar informa-
tion in case people forget or have
further questions
• Throughout either waste audit our
intern is present for most of the day
and responsible for training and an-
swering any questions that arise from
our volunteers
• After each audit our intern complies
and records all the data collected and
makes notes of any potential changes
that can be made based on our find-
ings.
(530) 752-6622
https://coffeehouse.ucdavis.edu

2. Total Diversion Audit
For a successful audit we station vol-
unteers in central location near all the
waste bins, set up with a large scale.
Because our operation has 5 different
streams, (landfill, recycle, cardboard,
pre-consumer compost, and post-con-
sumer compost) we developed differ-
ent ways to accurately measure each
stream in the most efficient manner.
For bagged trash items, they were sim-
ply weighed and recorded. For waste
that is collected in buckets (ie: veg-
etable waste) we weighed the whole
bucket, emptied it, then weighed the
empty bucket after. For loose items like
cardboard and miscellaneous recycling
we had a separate bin we could use on
the scale. The bin was zeroed out then
the loose items were placed in the bin
to get an accurate weight. We devel-
oped a spreadsheet for each separate
waste stream so our volunteers could
easily record their data in an organized
manner. In order to capture all the
waste from an entire day our waste
audit started at 7am and ended around
10pm, which mirrored operational
hours for the dining room. During
slower times we relied on our student
manager team to assist with the weigh-
ing and recording of the data.
Contamination Waste Audit
Since we were interested in how effec-
tive our waste sorting signage was for
the contamination audits we focused
on sorting through our customer waste
and excluded back of house waste.
We borrowed a sorting table from the
Waste and Reduction Office on campus
and used it to sort through each bag
taken out of our dining room area from
10am-6pm. During slower times we
had two volunteers and during busier
times we had four to five. From our
contamination audits we have made a
few big changes based on our findings.
The one that made the biggest impact
was putting signs that cover our landfill
bin holes that encourage people to
take the time to sort their waste. The
signs are bright yellow and include data
from our audits that show that around
73% of what ends up in our landfill
bins can actually be composted. After
adding these signs to all our bins we
saw an 11% decrease in overall weight
for landfill and an increase in both
composting and recycling with minimal
impact on contamination.
Program/Process
Challenges
• Finding enough volunteers is tough,
but we post on our campus’ commu-
nity service website to enlist different
clubs around campus. We have also
had success reaching out to fraterni-
ties and sororities and we always get
a decent number of our own em-
ployees who are willing to help out
throughout the day
• Finding an effective way to market
our findings from the waste audits
have been challenging so far signage
on our landfill bins have been the
most effective
• Coordinating with the Waste and
Reduction Office to schedule times
to borrow their scale and figuring out
transportation has been challenging
so we try and pick schedule dates
well in advance.
Program/Process
Insights
• We have made many changes opera-
tionally as a result of our waste audits
and the information collected; result-
ing in more waste being diverted
from the landfill
–We have made sushi condiments
self serve and taken them out of the
containers resulting in a lot less full
packets being thrown away and us-
age has gone down as well
–Adding additional signage to our
landfill bins encouraging people to
sort their waste has increased diver-
sion away from the landfill by 10%
–We have found compostable re-
placements for burrito wrappers
and sandwich bags, two of our most
popular items that were
• Using employees as volunteers both
engages them in our sustainability ef-
fort and educates them on how much
our operation is doing to divert waste
• After conducting one waste audit
we keep copies of all of our signage
and emails making it much easier to
conduct the following ones
Key Contacts Susie Houlden
schoulden@ucdavis.edu
(530) 752-6622
https://coffeehouse.ucdavis.edu