Posted on Mar 26, 2025 | Blog,News
University Affiliate Spotlight: Louisiana Tech University Waste Audit
Louisiana Tech University will be joining the Keep Louisiana Beautiful University Affiliate network this May. One requirement to become a University Affiliate is to perform a campus waste audit to assess the university’s waste management practices and identify areas for improvement. The audit and findings support the university in meeting its sustainability goals focused on single-use disposables (SUDs) on campus and in waterways.
With instructions from the KLB University Waste Audit Guide, Louisiana Tech University conducted a waste audit on February 13, 2025. Taking materials from five locations across campus (the academic building, fitness facility, student union/cafeteria, quad/open space, and parking lot), student volunteers sorted groups into paper, plastic (including single use), glass, metal, organic, and containers with content (containing liquid, food waste, dirt, etc.). Once sorted and weighed, the items were properly disposed of or recycled.
Polystyrene (Styrofoam) food containers were the most commonly found items in the waste stream, with a total of 59 containers. Plastic straws took second with 54 found, and plastic beverage bottles third with 32.
Director of Student Activities Wes Cavin said, “We’ll present this information to the SGA to encourage programming to promote alternative uses for polystyrene containers, and we’ll also try to work with dining services to determine recycling opportunities for these containers.”
LA Tech’s results will provide documentation to develop a plan of action for improving landfill diversion, increasing recycling, and reducing contamination.
History of the University Affiliate Program
The University Affiliate program was developed in 2021 in response to a growing interest in sustainability, waste reduction, and litter prevention at the university level. University of Louisiana at Lafayette, with Keep Louisiana Beautiful as a sub-recipient, secured a $500,000 five-year EPA Gulf of Mexico Trash-Free Waters Grant to create and launch the program, develop a litter assessment app, develop educational training videos for campus communities, and fund grant opportunities for University Affiliates.
Affiliates include Dillard University, Grambling State University, Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana State University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, Tulane University, University of Louisiana Monroe, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of New Orleans, and Xavier University of Louisiana.
Photographs by Hannah Bergeron/Louisiana Tech University
