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Physical Planning, Development & Operations

Student putting item into recycling bin as Sammy the Slug approves

Zero Waste Performance

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Zero Waste Goals

The University of California system, and the Santa Cruz campus, established these policies with measurable goals to work toward zero waste:

  • Reduce waste generation rate by 25% from the 2015-16 level by 2025, and reduce it further to 50% of the 2015-16 level by 2030. The waste generation rate is the weight of all discarded materials (landfilled or recycled) divided by the number of users creating waste.
  • Achieve a landfill diversion rate of 90%. The landfill diversion rate is the percentage of discarded materials that are kept out of the landfill.

Review the Zero Waste Goals.

 Zero Waste Performance Charts 

The campus measures each year how we are doing on the zero waste goals.

  • The waste generation rate is 0.88 pounds per user per day as of June 2024. The 2025 goal is 0.82 pounds per user per day.
  • The landfill diversion rate is 49% as of June 2024. The rate including construction waste is 81% due to the large amount of recycled material from the Kresge College Dorm project.
Graph: generation rates with material by year.
Graph diversion rates with and without construction material by year.

For charts and other zero waste data at UCSC, view the most recent Annual Sustainability Report from the UC Office of the President.

For charts showing the types and quantities of waste materials at UCSC, view the Diversion Charts for the most recent reporting year.

Last modified: Oct 16, 2025