STARS: Waste Management 

Process 

Nicole and I started off with scheduling a meeting with Alethea, in order to discuss our STARS report. We had a three-step process in order to complete our project. OP-18: was about Waste Minimization and Diversion, OP-19: was about Construction and Demolition Waste Diversion, and OP-20 was about Hazardous Waste Management. Alethea helped us with OP-18 and OP-19, for OP-20 she sent us to her boss Ronnie Souza director of the Environmental Health & Safety department he was able to provide us helpful information for our project, along with the inside scope on how the University of New England works on being sustainable. Ronnie works on the implementation, and administration of comprehensive environmental health and safety programs and policies for the University. We were able to complete STARS within a day and have it ready to be submitted. Through this assignment, Nicole and I were able to take on a project already started on campus; the Move-in Move-out program is campuswide collection day of items no longer wanted by students at the end of the year. UNE will collect furniture, electronics, clothing, office supplies, unopened non-perishable food items, books, and other recyclables; sort it and either donate it to a charity or try to sell it again in the fall. 

Ah-ha Moment

Nicole and I didn’t really have any “Ah-ha” moment we did run into a couple of bumps in the road when working on our STARS report. While working on our presentation we had trouble getting in contact with universities due to the coronavirus. Although not a “Ah-Ha” moment, it was definitely frustrating and held us back from important information for our presentation. When talking with Ronnie we were able to find out what the university recycles and the regulations that the school has to follow. Finding out how much waste the university makes at the end of the day, definitely took me back and the number of unwanted items collected at the Move-in Move-out program this past year was insane.