ROT rollout moves UB closer to zero waste

If you've been on North Campus, chances are you’ve noticed something different in the hallways and common areas: new stations labeled Recycling, Organics and Trash — or ROT.

The stations represent one of the most visible changes yet in UB’s zero waste initiative. Over the course of just eight days, crews installed 853 pieces of ROT equipment across 46 buildings, 161 unique floors and more than 4.6 million gross square feet — representing approximately 64% of the overall campus.

Getting all that equipment to campus required eight 53-foot tractor-trailer loads.

But the rollout is about much more than new bins.

UB set a goal of achieving a 90% waste-diversion rate by 2030, meaning 90% of campus materials would be kept out of landfills and incinerators through recycling, composting, reuse and other strategies. The goal is part of UB’s broader climate-action work and its 10 in 10 roadmap.

“The ROT rollout takes our zero waste strategy from planning to action in a way that every member of our campus community can see and participate in,” says Laura Hubbard, vice president for finance and administration.

“Waste has a significant impact on our environmental footprint, and making it easier for people to properly recycle and compost is an important part of UB’s larger commitment to climate action. Just as importantly, this new system helps us operate more efficiently while creating a cleaner, more sustainable campus.”

A rollout of this size didn’t happen overnight — or through the efforts of any one office.

Across North Campus, 72 ROT ambassadors and 13 champions helped guide their colleagues through UB’s transition to the new waste-sorting system. Ambassadors served as on-the-ground resources, answering questions, offering guidance and helping make the change manageable for everyone in their area, while champions led the charge at the unit level, coordinating efforts and helping their teams prepare for the transition.

That engagement is critical because the success of ROT ultimately depends on what happens when someone approaches a station with an item in hand.

The three-stream system uses blue for recycling, green for organics and black for trash. Food waste and compostable food-service containers can go into the organics stream, where the material can be processed into a renewable resource rather than disposed of as trash.

Employees are also transitioning away from deskside trash and recycling collection in areas served by ROT. Instead, faculty and staff bring materials from their workspaces to centralized stations. The approach gives individuals a more direct role in sorting their waste while allowing custodial employees to spend more time on higher-priority needs, including maintaining common areas and restrooms.

In that sense, the ROT station may become something of a new office water cooler: a shared destination that brings people out of individual workspaces while making sustainability part of the everyday routine.

For Ona Strang, student affairs coordinator in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, becoming a ROT ambassador was a chance to help translate UB’s larger sustainability goals into everyday action.

“I became a ROT ambassador because I believe small actions can add up to a tremendous impact,” Strang says. “If each of us makes the effort to put even one item a day in the correct ROT bin, imagine the difference our entire UB community can make.”

Strang says the transition at Bonner Hall has gone smoothly.

“It’s been great to see how smoothly everyone at Bonner Hall has transitioned to the new ROT stations,” she says. “There’s a lot of excitement on the fourth floor, and it’s encouraging to see everyone embracing the change and doing their part.”

Dawn Reed, Undergraduate Education’s assistant vice provost of the Office of Marketing, Communications and Digital Engagement and a CAPtain for UB’s Climate Action Plan, says the stations make participating in UB’s sustainability work straightforward.

“The new ROT stations make it really easy to do our part, and I’ve been impressed by how much thought and planning went into rolling them out across campus,” Reed says. “It feels good to be part of a larger UB effort to reach our zero waste goal. What each of us does may seem small, but when we all pitch in, it can make a huge difference.”

That willingness to pitch in — and to help others navigate the change — was essential to bringing the new system from a campuswide plan into individual buildings, departments and offices.

“This rollout would not have been possible without our ROT ambassadors and champions,” Ryan McPherson, chief sustainability officer, says. “They stepped forward to help move this project from a university-wide strategy into individual buildings, departments and offices. They answered questions, helped their colleagues understand why the change matters and provided invaluable feedback along the way. We’re incredibly grateful for the time, energy and leadership they brought to this effort.”

The North Campus academic and administrative rollout is an important milestone, but it isn’t the finish line.

South Campus, Downtown and North Campus residential areas are next as UB continues expanding access to recycling and organics and building toward the university’s 2030 zero waste goal.

The university will also continue education and outreach to help members of the campus community understand what belongs in each stream. Each ROT station includes a QR code that users can scan for additional information and guidance about properly sorting their waste.

That education matters. As UB’s earlier waste audit showed, achieving zero waste will require more than infrastructure. It will require thousands of individual decisions, made correctly day after day.

Learn more about ROT, browse the FAQs and access the chatbot on the campus waste transformation website.