The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating report, a system tracking the sustainability of university campuses, scored University of Texas at Austin at 69.72% — the highest of the four UT System schools rated, which included UT-San Antonio, UT-Rio Grande Valley and UT-Arlington. However, UT-Austin received the second-lowest score for its waste diversion and mitigation strategies.
In 2012, the University announced a zero waste goal to achieve a 90% diversion of waste by 2020, which includes redirecting waste from landfills through composting and recycling. However, while waste production on campus has stayed relatively stagnant over the past five years, with the exception of lower amounts during COVID-19 lockdowns, the diversion rate has dropped.
For the 2022-23 fiscal year, which ran from September 2022 to August 2023, the campus diversion rate was 31% — a third of the original goal declared over a decade ago. The University breaks down their waste disposal system for the almost 240 buildings across the 350-acre main campus into two categories: auxiliary waste, which comes from non-academic spaces like Texas Athletics and University Housing and Dining, and self-haul waste originating from academic areas like classrooms and office buildings.