The Zero Waste Research Center (ZWRC) at UC Berkeley conducts research and projects to develop upstream waste diversion solutions, striving for zero waste by 2020 through initiatives like recycling facilities and sustainable product guidelines. The ZWRC seeks $100,000 in funding to enhance lab waste management, promote reusable products, and create a circular economy model. Its efforts aim to share successful strategies with other UC campuses, increasing sustainability and civic engagement within the local community.

1. Project Title: Zero Waste Research Center
Date: October 1, 2015
Campus: University of California, Berkeley
Project Leaders: Tara Singh; Anna Yip; Gary Richmond; Sharon Daraphonhdeth; Katherine Walsh; Lin King
Program Overview:
The Zero Waste Research Center (ZWRC) at UC Berkeley, a center led by career and student staff, conducts
research and implements projects that produce creative upstream waste diversion solutions. The ZWRC
prioritizes strategies such as purchasing and re-designing sustainable products, provoking behavior change, and
instituting closed-loop “circular economy” waste systems. The ZWRC tests these strategies via campus
projects, some of which include the Plastic Disclosure Project, the Environmentally Preferred Products (EPP)
Guidelines and Road Shows, Cal Athletics and Beverage Alliance sustainability initiatives, and campus lab
waste analysis. These projects strive to create a cradle-to-cradle campus waste management system and achieve
Zero Waste by 2020 at UC Berkeley. The Zero Waste Research Center was founded in 2012 by The Green
Initiative Fund and Campus Recycling and Refuse Services.
The ZWRC requests a total of $100,000 to further its research regarding waste reduction and developing
upstream solutions for achieving resource recovery and zero waste. Funding is requested to:
 Partner with the manufacturers of products found in campus waste streams and develop recyclable and
compostable alternatives to these products;
 Support student researchers who conduct waste audits, sustainable product analysis, and project
implementation;
 Finance the operational costs of ZWRC project and program implementation.
Most importantly, funding these initiatives will assist in the development a UC system-wide approach toward
zero waste. If funding is allocated to the UC Berkeley Zero Waste Research Center, UC Berkeley can provide
the UC system with upstream solutions for achieving zero waste The following research areas and projects are
current initiatives of the ZWRC, all projects which need funding.
RESEARCH AREAS AND PROJECTS:
PLASTICS RECYCLING FACILITY:
The ZWRC is partnering with CRRS and faculty representatives from the College of Engineering, the Pavement
Research Center, and the Jacobs Institute on a local solution to reuse and recycle plastics on the UC Berkeley
campus through the creation of an on-site plastics recycling facility. The primary goal of this facility is to
convert campus’s plastic waste, including, plastic bottles, food containers, and plastic laboratory packaging, into
pellets to be used as material or binding filament for sustainable products.
For example, the ZWRC is researching the possibility of using said pellets as the starting material for binding
filament used by UC Berkeley’s 3-D printers. The Jacobs Institute has more than 100 3-D printers that could
utilize this recycled material. The ZWRC is also researching recycled plastics as a viable alternative in asphalt,
and is in communication with other universities and researchers who have used recycled plastic in their

2. pavement. The pellets could also be sourced to partnering laboratory product manufacturers, such as LabCon
and Kimberly Clark, to be repurposed into commonly used plastic laboratory supplies, such as pipette tips and
pipette tip boxes.
It is critical that the ZWRC has the necessary equipment and building infrastructure established for the Plastic
Recycling Facility to be successful. The facility’s costs include building upgrades, an extruder/washer to ensure
satisfactory plastic condition, and other equipment, such as a grinder to shred the plastics into pellet form. The
overall impact of creating a cradle-to-cradle, closed loop system will be a landmark achievement for the UC
system. The ZWRC expects this facility to serve as a model for other universities, particularly the UCs, and its
research shared with all interested parties.
PLASTIC DISCLOSURE PROJECT (PDP):
In October 2012, UC Berkeley became the first university to sign-on to the Plastic Disclosure Project (PDP)
thanks to the Zero Waste Research Center. The PDP encourages corporations, groups, individuals, etc. to
increase transparency in their respective plastic consumption by disclosing their plastics’ sources of production
and their plastics’ disposal pathways. The PDP measures the plastic footprint of UC Berkeley, identifying in its
waste streams commonly found plastic products, such as coffee cup lids, single-use disposable bottles and food
containers, and other rigid plastics. The ZWRC conducted waste audits of a variety of campus buildings, such
as an academic building (Wurster Hall), the basketball arena (Haas Pavilion), and a dining hall (Crossroads), for
the purposed of collecting PDP data. Additionally, the ZWRC conducted extensive research mapping out the
life cycle of common plastics. The final PDP Report will be published fall 2015.
LAB WASTE MANAGEMENT:
Campus laboratories produce great amounts of plastic waste, such as packaging and pipette tips, which often
end up in the landfill. This waste has led the Zero Waste Research Center to partner with UC Berkeley labs in
the development of zero waste lab practices. The ZWRC has collaborated with three locations Hildebrand Hall,
Valley Life Sciences Building and Life Sciences Annex, and Davis Hall to recycle common items. After
conducting multiple waste assessments and surveys in the engineering and chemistry labs, the ZWRC
developed recommendations for diverting items such as concrete, chemical glass bottles, chemical plastic
bottles, plastic pipette boxes, and other plastic packaging from the landfill.
ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERRED PRODUCTS (EPP) ROADSHOWS AND PURCHASING GUIDE:
In partnership with Sandy Macasieb and Alex Butler from UC Berkeley’s Supply Chain Management group,
and staff from CRRS, the ZWRC created a list of sustainable office products and promoted them at various
campus buildings through Environmentally Preferred Products (EPP) Roadshows. The selected products are
recycled-content, refillable, recyclable, and/or reusable. One such product is the Pilot B2P pen, a pen made
from recycled PET #1 plastic water bottles. The pen is also refillable which supports reuse rather than single-
use and disposal.
The Environmentally Preferred Products Roadshows support the ZWRC’s direct work with manufacturers, both
promoting these identified products to UC Berkeley’s faculty and staff, and hosting manufacturer
representatives at these roadshows. The Roadshows have strengthened the ZWRC’s relationships with
manufacturers, thereby creating opportunities for the ZWRC to influence other products within these
manufacturers’ portfolios.

3. REFILLS NOT LANDFILLS CAMPAIGN:
The ZWRC has launched Refills Not Landfills as UC Berkeley’s campaign to promote reusable products instead
of single-use disposable products. Priority products to address include single-use disposable cups, plastic
bottles, food containers, and service ware. The Refills Not Landfills campaign team (SERC, ZWRC, TGIF,
CRRS, Cal Dining, Beverage Alliance, and University Health Services) has identified the distribution of
reusable Klean Kanteen insulated mugs as an upstream strategy for addressing campus waste, particularly
single-use disposable cups and bottles. Free Klean Kanteen mugs are being distributed to campus staff and
students at select 2015-2016 campus events; mugs are also being sold daily at Cal Dining locations. In order to
receive a mug, a community member must first sign the Refills Not Landfills pledge. The Refills Not Landfills
leadership is also identifying reusable mug discounts at campus and local restaurants, and mapping these
discounts on a Google map for the campus community. Additionally, the team is working with restaurant
owners to provide Refills signage and education, encouraging reusable mugs and food-ware.
BULK BIN PROJECT:
The Bulk Bin project, a collaboration between Cal Dining and the Zero Waste Research Center, will install bulk
food dispensers at 4 on-campus retail locations. The bulk bins offer a unique, upstream approach for preventing
and eliminating both food and packaging waste, giving students the ability to buy different food items in
preferred quantities (through pricing by the pound) in compostable or reusable containers. The bulk bins will
reduce waste from individually plastic-packaged foods like candy, nuts, and cereal, and will incentivize students
by giving discounts to those who bring reusable containers to purchase the bulk items.
SUSTAINABILITY IN ATHLETICS:
Athletics Sustainability Internship Program
SERC hired and supervises student staff as Athletics Sustainability Interns, who research, identify, propose, and
implement sustainability practices within Cal Athletics, thereby supporting the efforts of the ZWRC. Focus
areas include Equipment, Operations, Venues, and Events, and identifying and advising an athlete sustainability
champion on every Cal Athletics team. One completed project includes the purchase and install of a reBounces
machine at the Cal Tennis team’s courts. The machine pressurizes tennis balls so they can be reused during
practices rather than discarded after matches and one-time use. Use tennis balls have also been donated to a
local elementary school for the bottoms of furniture legs. The Athletics Sustainability interns are researching
similar reuse and donation options for other athletic equipment.
Athletic Events
Zero waste education, outreach, and fan engagement are critical strategies deployed by the ZWRC to promote
upstream behavior changes in community members. The ZWRC, CRRS, and SERC have partnered on UC
Berkeley’s participation in the annual RecycleMania Game Day Challenge since 2013 and the Green Sports
Alliance Pac-12 Game Day Challenge since 2015. UC Berkeley has won the RecycleMania Game Day
Challenge consecutively from 2013-2015, and won the 2015 Inaugural Green Sports Alliance Pac-12 Game
Day Challenge. Pre-game best practices include collaborating with concessions to ensure all items sold are
compostable or recyclable, developing an educational video to be shown during the game, creating an
educational game to be played by fans during halftime, and installing zero waste bins and signage throughout
the basketball Pavilion. Game day best practices include student “trash talkers” assisting fans with waste
diversion and sorting, educational tabling throughout the Pavilion, and providing bins to collect used pom-poms
and discarded fan items for reuse at future games.

4. THE SUCCESS OF THE ZWRC RESULTS IN UC ZERO WASTE CAMPUSES:
Funding is sought for UC Berkeley’s Zero Waste Research Center because the Center’s products will not be
insular to the Berkeley campus. Its best practices will have the potential to copied and/or modified at other UC
campuses. The Center will research, design, and implement cradle-to-cradle waste management methods and
further the University of California’s Zero Waste by 2020 Goal. Additionally, the Center will provide job
opportunities and first-hand experience to undergraduate and graduate students looking to gain experience in
zero waste. The ZWRC will also extend civic engagement to the communities surrounding UC Berkeley main
campus and the Berkeley Global Campus, involving respective local stakeholders in some of its initiatives, such
as the Plastics Recycling Facility and Athletics events. The Zero Waste Research Center’s initiatives will go
beyond simply creating positive environmental campus change to breaking Town-Gown barriers, increasing
local social capital, and expanding educational and environmental opportunities for the campus and local
communities.