Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Syracuse University will be ranked among other colleges in the United States and Canada in the Campus Race to Zero Waste competition. The contest, which classifies schools in various sustainability categories, will announce its Zero Waste winner in April.

As campuses report weekly on their waste and sustainability metrics, the Zero Waste program, which began its 2023 competition in January, keeps a tracker of their progress. At the end of the competition, the winning school will receive an award made from recyclable materials, according to an SU news release. Categories ranked in the competition include waste diversion, food organics and zero waste overall.

Last year, SU was ranked sixteenth in the competition’s Food Organics category, while neighboring SUNY ESF placed first. Both ESF administrators and SU senior Sydney Grosso, who has worked on bettering SU’s sustainability initiatives, said the two schools have drastically different environmental efforts.

Grosso, who is majoring in policy studies and public health, said she wants to work to reconcile the gap between SU and ESF’s efficacy in sustainability practices.

“One of the differences I’ve noticed is that ESF has more of a concentration on environmental studies, whereas Syracuse doesn’t have as much concentration,” Grosso said. “The university needs to grow in that department more. We need to advocate a little more.”

The Zero Waste ranking corresponds to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, a resource for universities to measure their progress in sustainability. By participating in the competition, SU gains campus engagement points.

Currently, SU holds a silver STARS rating. The recognition levels — reporter designation, bronze, silver, gold and platinum — are increasing benchmarks of sustainability. Each institution’s final score is calculated by percentage of available points earned plus innovation and leadership points earned.

Last semester, Grosso worked on a project in which she used the STARS system to compare Syracuse’s rating with other universities. She said funding levels are significantly different, and one which prevents SU from completing the projects it wants to.

“ESF has more funding. SU needs to invest more money into their sustainability department,” Grosso said. “Since ESF is a smaller school, they’re releasing a lot less carbon dioxide emissions. We are emitting way more, which is why our scope is at a silver rating compared to theirs.”

Jacques Megnizin | Digital Design Editor

SU’s Student Association has worked to implement various incentives to improve the university’s sustainability efforts. One incentive is its sustainability report, released in December, which outlines an update to SU’s 2009 Climate Action Plan to eliminate its net carbon emissions by 2040.

The report includes a recommendation to move the date up from 2040 to 2030 and proposes sustainability projects, including a peer-to-peer education program and implementation of geothermal heat pumps.

Rochelle Strassner, an outreach and engagement manager at ESF, works to manage certification programs on campus, like the STARS ranking. She said ESF’s staffing makes the school successful in its sustainability department. While Strassner works to manage ESF’s certifications, the office is spearheading other initiatives, including work with the Plastics Reduction Partners program.

The program, another environmental certification which functions as part of Campus Race to Zero Waste, works through schools to reduce plastic waste on campuses and in campus communities via clean-up events and other local engagement activities.

Delaney Demro, ESF’s sustainability planning and institutional alignment manager, said ESF is currently pursuing work with the program. Demro also said the college’s Office of Sustainability, where her position is housed, remains consistently active on campus.

“We position ourselves as an office of service,” Demro said. “We are integrated throughout the campus.”

At SU, Grosso said she wants to engage more students, faculty and staff in sustainability efforts, and push to increase funding in order to successfully execute those efforts.

“People need to be more aware,” Grosso said. “The sustainability community is so small. We need more people targeting the campus.”

Published on February 15, 2023 at 12:34 am

Contact Claire: cksamsta@syr.edu